
BX 

• M 8 



i68a 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap....:.__ Copyright No. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



STORY OF THE PRAYER BOOK. 



ITS ORIGIN, SOURCES AND GROWTH. 



y 

Hr&* BY THE 

REV. A. ALLERTON MURCH, A, B., B. D., 

CHRIST CHURCH, SALMON FALLS, N. H. 



IvUKR ii. I : ^And ii came to pass, as he was praying in a 
certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto 
him, Lord % teach us to pray, even as John also taught his dis- 
ciples." 



PHILADELPHIA : 
GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO. 
1899. 



The Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



Copyright, 1899, 

BY 

A. ALLERTON MURCH. 



JUL 7 -1899 ) 



of Co?* 



Zo tbe 

REV. GEORGE LEWIS, D. D., 

PASTOR OE THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 
SOUTH BERWICK, ME., 

AT WHOSE REQUEST THIS WORK WAS BEGUN, 

AND THE 

REV. I. W. BEARD, 

I,ATE RECTOR OF ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, 
DOVER, N. H., 

AT WHOSE SUGGESTION IT WAS COMPLETED, 

WITH THE HIGH ESTEEM OF 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



Most of the works which give the history 
of the Prayer Book with any approach to 
completeness, are too lengthy for the hasty 
general reader. It has seemed to me that 
there must be a place for a shorter work 
which should still go over pretty nearly the 
whole ground. In this volume, therefore, 
I have tried to be brief as well as reason- 
ably complete; and of course I have also 
tried to be truthful and accurate, and not 
entirely uninteresting. 

The facts stated are such as are well 
known to students of the Prayer Book, and 
so I have not deemed it necessary to en- 
cumber the pages with notes and references. 
Such authorities have been consulted as 
seemed to be necessary, but not a great 
number. I append a list of them. 

The making of this volume has given me 
benefit as well as pleasure, and I hope that 
others may receive similar benefit and pleas- 
ure from its perusal. A. A. M. 

Salmon Falls, N. H. , 
St, Andrew's Day, i8g8. 

5 



WORKS CONSULTED. 



Bi,unt. The Annotated Book of Common 
Prayer." 

Whe aTi,ey. ' 1 The Book of Common Prayer of the 

Church of England." 
Luckock. " Studies in the History of the Prayer 

Book." 

Proctor. "The Book of Common Prayer." 
With Bishop Perry's Preface. 

Huntington. " A Short History of the Book of 
Common Prayer." 

Smith's " Dictionary of Christian Antiquities." 

Smith's " Dictionary of Christian Biography." 

Schaff-Herzog. " Encyclopaedia of Religious 
Knowledge." 

Benton's " The Church Cyclopaedia." 

11 The Encyclopaedia Britannica." 

" Chambers' Encyclopaedia." 

Stanley's "History of the Eastern Church." 

Robertson's 11 History of the Christian Church." 

Carwithen'S " History of the Church of Eng- 
land." 

A. H. HorE. 1 1 History of the Church of England. 9 9 
Froude'S " History of England." 
Hume's ,( History of England." 
Green's "A Short History of the English 
People." 

Tiffany's " History of the Church in the United 
States." 



7 



WORKS CONSUMED. 

Coleman's " The Church in America.' * 
McConneu/S " History of the American Epis- 
copal Church." 
Perry's " The History of the American Episcopal 
Church." 

The First Prayer Book of King Edward VI., 1549. 
The Second Prayer Book of King Edward VI. , 1552 . 
The Prayer Book of Elizabeth, 1559. 
The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of 

England — of the present day. 
The Book of Common Prayer of the American 

Church — Various editions. 
Various other Prayer Books. 

4 ' Alterations and Additions to the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer," by the Rev. C. L. Hutchins, D. D., 
Secretary to the House of Deputies. 1892. 
8 



CONTENTS. 



Part L Origin and Sources. 

PAGE 



Scope of the Question 17 

Beginnings of Liturgical Worship .... 18 

The Eucharist 19 

Early Christian Writers 20 

Early Liturgies, their Growth and Change 21 

The Connection between Liturgies .... 25 

Early Liturgies of Britain 26 

Language of Early Liturgies 27 

Latin retained for Liturgies in the West . 28 

Change necessary • 30 

Early Efforts to Teach the People .... 31 

Various Services— The Canonical Hours . 34 

Service Books . 35 

Anglo-Saxon Primers 38 

Devotional Expositions, etc 39 

The Reformation 41 

Services to be in English 42 

Gradual Changes in the Offices 43 

The Bible in English 44 

"The Bishop's Book" and "The King's 

Book." 46 

Doctrinal Formularies 47 

Salisbury Use Adopted 49 

Convocation begins Revision ...... 49 

The Primer of Henry VIII 51 

Revision in Earnest 52 

Books Used in Revision ......... 54 

9 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 



First Prayer Book of Edward VI 54 

The Great Change 56 

Part II. The Engush Prayer Book from 
1549 to 1898. 

Prayer Book much Changed since 1549. . 57 
Summary of Various Editions of the 

Prayer Book 57 

Section 1. 

Prayer Book of 1549 — How it was received. 58 

Ultra Puritanical Tendencies 59 

Section 2. 

Prayer Book of 1552 61 

Why Important 61 

Differences from Book of 1549 61 

An Improvement on the Previous Book . 66 

Mr. Froude on the English Prayer Book . 67 
Section 3. 

The Prayer Book of Elizabeth 69 

A Book for all parties 70 

Differences from Book of 1552 70 

Subsequent Additions 71 

Its Excellencies— Providence 72 

Great Credit due to Elizabeth 73 

How the Book was received 75 

Injunctions 76 

"Advertisements." 77 

Special Services 77 

Section 4. 

James I. — Opposition to Prayer Book . . 78 

Millenary Petition 79 

Hampton Court Conference 79 

Puritan Substitutes 80 

IO 



CONTENTS 

FAGS 

Long Parliament 81 

Westminster Assembly, and Prayer Book 

Prohibited 82 

Solemn League and Covenant 82 

The "Directory." 82 

Repressive Laws 82 

Religion and Politics not to be Confounded. 83 
Section 5. 

Charles II. — Prayer Book restored .... 84 

Savoy Conference 84 

Prayer Book to be revised 86 

Changes Made 87 

English Prayer Book of to-day 89 

Changes attempted under William III. . 89 

Special Services 89 

State Services 90 

Section 6. 

Scotch Prayer Book of 1637 91 

Its Influence 92 

Section 7. 

Irish Prayer Books » 93 

Section 8, 

Prayer Books used by those not Church- 
men 94 

By Puritans, etc 94 

By Arians 94 

King's Chapel Prayer Book ....... 94 

Irvingite Prayer Book 95 

Methodist Book of Discipline 95 

Books by Presbyterians, etc 95 

Change in Laws — Shortened Forms ... 96 

Translations of Prayer Book ....... 96 

Influence of Prayer Book 97 

II 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Part III. The American Prayer Book. 

1. The Book of 1789. 

Before the Revolution 101 

During the Revolution 101 

After the Revolution 102 

Bishop Seabury 103 

Convention of 1784 103 

Convention of 1785 104 

Revision of Prayer Book 104 

" Proposed Book." 105 

King's Chapel 106 

Scottish Communion Office 106 

Changes in the '* Proposed Book." .... 107 

Bishops White and Provoost 107 

Schism Averted 108 

Convention of 1789 108 

Method of Revision 109 

Changes Adopted 109 

New Forms Adopted . . . ....... 115 

Changes in Rubrics 116 

The Ordinal 118 

Articles of Religion .. . 119 

Subscription to the Articles 120 

Consecration of a Church or Chapel ... 120 

Office of Institution 120 

Arrangement of Various Parts 120 

Metrical Psalms and Hymns 120 

The Book Satisfactory 121 

2. The Book of 1892. 

Revision Desired 123 

The Lectionary 126 

Revision Begun 131 

Joint Committee 132 

12 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

"Book Annexed. M 133 

Further Changes Proposed 134 

Standard Prayer Book 135 

Revision Ended 135 

Credit for the Work 136 

Changes Made — Number 137 

Character of the Changes 138 

Principal Changes Specified 138 

General Interest in the Prayer Book . . . 148 

Conclusion. 

Advantages of a Liturgy 150 

13 



Part I. —Origin and Sources of the Prayer Book. 
To 1549. 

Part II.— Growth and History of the English Prayer 

Book. From 1549 to i8g8. 
Part III.— The American Prayer Book. 

1. Version of 1789. 

2. Revision of 1892. 



PART I. 



ORIGIN AND SOURCES OF THE 
PRATER BOOK. TO 1549. 



PART I.-ORIGIN AND SOURCES. 

i. If we were asked about the origin of 
the American Prayer Book, we might say 
that it was the result of a revision of the 
English Prayer Book of 1662, influenced 
largely by the Scotch Prayer Book of 1637. 
But then we should have answered the 
question only in part, perhaps, because the 
questioner might be in search of its ultimate 
origin. 

In like manner we might say that the 
English Prayer Book arose from the trans- 
lation and revision of Latin books of wor- 
ship which had been used in England be- 
fore the Reformation. But that would be 
an unsatisfactory answer, because it is 
generally known already. And so I think 
that the most satisfactory method will be to 
begin near the beginning, and to notice 
briefly the changes which have taken place 
in liturgical worship since very early times; 
and then we shall have learned something 
about the ultimate origin of the English 
Prayer Book. 

Liturgical worship of some kind, using 
17 



Zbc Stcrg of tbe prater $ocfe 



the word lihirgical in its original and broad 
sense, as referring to any kind of ritual 
worship, has been in use from the earliest 
times. Without going any further back, 
however, it will probably be enough to say 
that the synagogue and temple worship of 
the Jews was distinctively liturgical, in 
prayers as w 7 ell as in responsive readings 
and singing. 

Then Christ came into the w r orld and 
preached and taught; and there w r as born in 
His disciples a yearning for something bet- 
ter in the way of worship than that to 
which they had always been accustomed. 
And so one of them is represented as hav- 
ing said to Him on a certain occasion, 
1 4 Lord, teach us to pray." And then He 
gave to them w T hat is believed to have been 
the first Christian liturgical form, known to 
us and to all ages as the Lord's Prayer, the 
Pater Noster. 

It has always seemed to me that our Lord 
was not so much giving His apostles a form 
of Prayer, as a manner of Prayer, w T hen He 
said to them, * 1 After this manner, therefore, 
pray ye" — that He was suggesting to them 
the things and the kinds of things which 
they ought to pray for, rather than the 
w T ords and form with w 7 hich they should 
18 



QxiQin anfc Sources 



pray. But, however that may be, it is cer- 
tain that it very soon grew into a form, that 
it was so regarded in the earliest ages, and 
that it has held an important place in nearly 
every Christian liturgy. 

Going on from that, perhaps the next 
step of importance was when, at the last 
supper of our Lord with His disciples, on 
the night in which He was betrayed, the 
feast in commemoration of His divine sacri- 
fice was instituted, which is called to-day 
by various names — the Eucharist, or giving 
of thanks, the Holy Communion, the Lord's 
Supper, the Sacrifice of the Mass. 

After the Ascension, on every Sunday 
morning certainly, and probably more fre- 
quently than that, the disciples assembled 
together to break bread, in remembrance of 
their departed Lord. This was, without 
doubt, the earliest form of distinctively 
Christian worship. At the very first there 
was probably very little formality indeed 
about this celebration. There was no need 
of ritual then, There was spontaneous rev- 
erence and love. But before many years it 
seemed to be necessary, in order that the 
old reverence and love might not die out, 
and in order that their common worship 
might be rendered in the most fitting man- 
19 



Gbe 5tot£ of tbe iPrager JBooft 

ner, — it seemed to be necessary, or at least 
advisable, that the celebrations should be 
observed with more or less of form and 
ritual. This is attested by early Christian 
literature. Clemens Romanus was the third, 
or possibly the second, Bishop of Rome 
after the apostles. The lately discovered 
complement to his first letter contains litur- 
gical phrases which are also found in the 
liturgy of the Church of Alexandria. This 
was probably written at about the close of 
the first century A. D., and it is considered 
authentic. Pliny's letter to Trajan, in 
which he makes inquiry as to what his 
treatment of the Christians in his province 
shall be, was probably written at about the 
year 1 1 1 A. D. In that it is stated that the 
Christians were accustomed to meet together 
on a fixed day before it was light, and to 
sing responsively a hymn to Christ as a 
God, and to bind themselves by a solemn 
pledge (sacramento) not to commit any 
crime, but to abstain from theft, brigandage 
and adultery, to keep their word, and not to 
refuse to restore what had been intrusted to 
their charge if demanded. After these ser- 
vices they were accustomed to disperse, and 
to assemble again at a later hour to partake 
of a common meal. 

20 



©rfofn anD Sources 

The testimony of the Christian Apologists 
is similar. Justin Martyr, who wrote about 
1 60 A. D., is the only one of them who 
gives any details of the worship and ob- 
servances. He gives great prominence to 
Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, the one as 
admitting believers to the benefits of the 
New Covenant, the other as the Church's 
spiritual sustenance and greatest act of wor- 
ship. He describes the manner of this 
worship with considerable care. In the 
other apologists notices in regard to wor- 
ship are incidental only; but, so far as they 
go, they do not give any different view from 
that found in Justin. Bucharistic worship 
seems to be the only observance of the 
Lord's Day to which any of them makes 
allusion. The term liturgy came to be ap- 
plied to that distinctively. The peoples of 
the East are much more formal and demon- 
strative than we are, and among them, even 
in the very early days, there was so much 
ritual as would without doubt seem to most 
of us to be excessive, and perhaps uncalled 
for. 

But the liturgies in various places were 
somewhat different. Of course, they all 
resembled each other, and they were the 
same in their essential features; but in 
21 



£be Storg ot tbe prater ;fi3ooft 



minor points there were marked differences. 
It is commonly assumed that there was 
some normal form used by the apostles at 
the first, and that certain changes were 
almost immediately made in this apostolic 
ritual, to adapt it to local needs and condi- 
tions and circumstances. That may have 
been so, — probably it was so, — but, at the 
same time, it seems to me that this apostolic 
ritual, or liturgy, must have contained only 
a very few fixed forms, and those only the 
essential ones. The Liturgy of the Apos- 
tolic Constitutions, so-called, purporting to 
have been compiled (or written) by Clement 
of Rome from the teachings of the Twelve 
Apostles, is manifestly the product of a 
much later age. 

A liturgy is mostly a growth. The 
apostles could not do everything, and they 
had other w r ork to do than to compile and 
introduce liturgies, except those of the 
simplest kind. I can conceive of them as 
teaching the Lord's Prayer, a Creed, the 
Summary of the Law, the Ten Command- 
ments, our Lord's Words of Institution in 
the Holy Eucharist, some sayings of our 
Lord — indeed, many of them, some of the 
Psalms and some of the prophecies con- 
cerning Him, and a few other things of 

22 



OxiQin anD Sources 



a similar character. These things would 
indeed make quite a liturgy; but it would 
seem to me that the apostles would not be 
careful to give these things in any fixed and 
unchanging order. Of course, it is certain 
that they transmitted the facts upon which, 
and probably the principles in accordance 
with which, Christian liturgies might be 
constructed; but the work itself could with 
safety be left to those who should come after. 

It seems likely, or at least possible, that 
there were very many liturgies at first, to 
suit the needs and tastes of different regions 
and of different bodies of clergy. Indeed, 
it would seem almost certain that for a long 
time there was very much worship that was 
not liturgical except in the freest way, with 
the greatest liberty in prayer and praise. 
Then when different customs came, it might 
be that each locality would have a liturgy 
of its own. Soon it would come about that 
the ones which seemed to be the best in 
different localities would gain ascendency 
over the others. Those used in the largest 
places, also, would have a manifest advant- 
age. And, too, as the Church continued to go 
into different places, or as it would spread 
from various great centers, some particular 
liturgies would come to be more widely used. 
23 



TIbe 5tor$ of tbe ©raser :fi3coft 

It is ordinarily stated that there were four 
great liturgies at the beginning, or immedi- 
ately after the apostolic age. If the de- 
velopment was such as I have suggested, it 
would seem to be more correct to say that 
in the third or fourth century there had 
come to be four families or sets of liturgies. 
The traditional idea, however, is quite as 
likely to be the true one, that at the first 
there were four liturgies only, and that, as 
the church spread, others w 7 ere derived from 
them by revision, to suit different circum- 
stances and conditions, in much the same 
w r ay as that in which the American Prayer 
Book was derived from the English one. 
Without enlarging upon this, it is easy to 
see that there would be growth and change 
all of the time. And these changes would 
be very great in the course of fourteen hun- 
dred or fifteen hundred years. Men of dif- 
ferent centuries would differ in taste and 
judgment, as well as in needs and desires. 

The local reasons for change w T hich have 
been already spoken of, would continue to 
be active. There was no art of printing, to 
aid in fixing the same old forms. There 
was development in theology also; and 
liturgical development must follow after 
that and keep pace with it. 

24 



OviQin anD Sources 

But, still, with all the additions that were 
made to the liturgy, and with all the changes, 
the essentials remained everywhere and al- 
ways the same, just as they were at the be- 
ginning. 

I have spoken of the four great liturgies; 
but there were many others which had a 
widely extended use through long periods 
of time. The genealogy and family con- 
nection of all these liturgies, using the word 
liturgy now in its restricted sense, would 
seem to be about as follows: 

1. The Words of Institution used by our 
Lord. 

2. An unknown nucleus of a liturgy used 
by the apostles. 

3. The four great liturgies: (1) That of 
St. James, at Antioch or Jerusalem; (2) That 
of St. Mark, at Alexandria; (3) That of St. 
Peter, at Rome; (4) That of St. John, or St. 
Paul, at Ephesus. 

From (1) the Liturgy of St. James there 
came successively those of St. Basil 
(Caesarea, 329-379); St. Chrysostom (347- 
407); Constantinople; the present liturg}^ of 
the Eastern, or Greek and Russian Church. 
Also, the Syriac Liturgy of St. James, and 
the monophysite liturgies. 

(2) From the Liturgy of St. Mark was 
derived the present liturgy of Egypt. 
25 



XLbe 5tor£ of tbe prater JBooft 

(3) From the Liturgy of St. Peter there 
came the liturgy of St. Ambrose (340-397); 
and from that the present liturgy of the 
diocese of Milan. Also, those called the 
Sacramentaries, of St. Leo (440-461), of 
Gelasius (492-496), of St. Gregory (590- 
604); and the present Liturgy of Rome. 

(4) From the Liturgy of Ephesus (St. 
John), came the liturgy of Lyons; and from 
that the Mosarabic or Spanish Liturgy; also 
the liturgies of Britain and of Tours. 

From the two latter and the Sacramentary 
of St. Gregory, came Augustine's revised 
Liturgy of Britain, in the early part of the 
seventh century. From this, in about 
1085, revised by St. Osmund, Bishop of 
Salisbury, came the Use of Sarum, and the 
other uses prevalent in England at the time 
of the Reformation — those of York, Here- 
ford, Bangor and Lincoln. From these 
came the English Prayer Book, and from 
that the Scotch; and from the two latter the 
American Prayer Book was derived. 

I have by no means mentioned all the 
liturgies of importance, but only the prin- 
cipal ones. Some of these are often spoken 
of under some alternate name. 

It will be noticed that the various litur- 
gies in use in England at the time of the 
26 



QtiQin anD Sources 



Reformation, and from which the present 
English Prayer Book is largely derived, 
had not come primarily from Rome, as 
many imagine, but from Ephesus. It is to 
be said, however, that the text of all of 
these "uses," so far as the Mass was con- 
cerned, was that of the Sacramentary of 
St. Gregory. 

The earliest liturgies were in the lan- 
guage of the people who used them. Most 
of them w r ere at first in Greek, because that 
was the language most widely diffused; for 
a long time, without doubt, the language 
most used even at Rome. But there were 
also liturgies in Syriac, in Arabic, in Coptic, 
and in various other languages in different 
countries. The liturgy of the Eastern 
Church is still in Greek, and that of the 
Egyptian is still in Coptic; but those of the 
Western Church had come to be in Latin 
long before the end of the fifth century. 
They had been put into Latin because that 
language was the literary language best 
understood where they were used. It was 
the vernacular all through Southern Europe, 
and was understood by some in more north- 
ern regions. No attempt was made to 
translate the liturgy into the languages of 
27 



Zbc StotE of tbe iprager $cok 

barbarous tribes, partly because it would 
have been practically impossible in those 
days when there were so many dialects in 
use, most of them not well fitted for such a 
purpose. It had also come to be felt that 
such a thing would be a desecration. 
Hebrew (or Syriac), Greek and Latin, were 
the sacred languages, because in them the 
accusation was written upon the cross. 
The translation of the Bible into Gothic by 
Ulfilas might seem a violation of this prin- 
ciple. But that translation was not to be 
used in worship. The liturgies were not 
thus translated. 

For several centuries before the Reforma- 
tion began, Latin had ceased to be spoken 
as a living language of the people any- 
where, even in Italy itself. But it was still 
retained without change in the worship of 
the church; and there were many reasons 
why this seemed to be advisable. In the 
first place, all other western languages were 
in a state of flux and change. They were 
mostly a chaos, a mass of dialects, no one 
of them in general use over any very great 
extent of country. But Latin was per- 
manent and fixed. It seemed to have been 
made on purpose, and fossilized as a sort of 
universal language, which would be the 
28 



QxiQin ano Sources 



same everywhere, in all parts of the world 
and for all future ages. It was not difficult 
to learn. It was not difficult to understand. 
Its words and phrases were definite in 
meaning. 

Latin was everywhere through the West 
the language of scholars, of philosophers, 
of theologians, of travelers, and of diplomats, 
just as it continued to be until not so very 
long ago. It was the language of Rome 
also, and of the Church universally in the 
West; and to worship God in different lan- 
guages and dialects would seem to be a 
violation of unity. 

It seemed to many, also, as if it would be 
difficult to keep the one true Catholic doc- 
trine, except in the one tongue in which it 
had so long been enshrined. In the con- 
fusion of tongues the tower would fall, and 
heaven could not be reached. 

Another reason why Latin seemed an 
ideal language for such a purpose, is that it 
is the basis from which were derived 
directly most of the languages of modern 
Europe; and there is perhaps no modern 
European language which has not many 
words of Latin origin. Now, why was it 
not better, the clergy said, that this univer- 
sal and scientific and diplomatic language 
29 



Gbe Stors of tbe ©ra^er asooft 

should also be the universal language of 
Christian worship everywhere, the language 
of the Catholic Church ? 

I have an impression that as late as the 
fourteenth century, possibly in the fifteenth 
century, it was better, on the whole, to 
have a great part of the worship of the 
Church in Latin, — before the invention of 
movable types, before the modern lan- 
guages became fixed, while the masses of 
the people were in ignorance of letters. 
The Latin language would not be a 
tongue so completely unknown to the 
masses of the people in the so-called Latin 
countries of Europe as it would be in the 
north, and it might well have been used 
among them as the language of the 
Church for a much longer time than in 
Germany, Britain and Scandinavia. And 
it is an interesting fact, in this connection, 
that while the northern countries became 
Protestant, the Latin countries remained 
Roman and papal. The difference in lan- 
guage may have had more to do with this 
than is sometimes thought. 

But whatever may have been the case in 
the past and in other countries, it is certain 
that in England in the sixteenth century, 
and indeed long before that, it was impera- 
30 



QxiQin anD Sources 



tively necessary that the language of the 
Church, whether in Bible or in ritual, 
should be the same as that which the peo- 
ple spoke, and which the people understood. 

We must not suppose, however, that no 
efforts had been made before that to teach 
the people in their own tongues what the 
worship meant, and what the doctrines of 
the church were. A great deal had been 
done with that end in view, at various 
times; indeed, it would seem as if there 
must have been continuous efforts in that 
direction; and the practice of Confession 
itself, and the observance of all of the Seven 
Sacraments, while it made the Church a 
real thing to the people, must have taught 
them much about the will of God and the 
way of life. It seems to me that in those 
dark days many of these corruptions even 
were providential, and resulted in good. 

Long before the Reformation began in 
England efforts were made to have the peo- 
ple understand the purport of the services. 
It was not all darkness and carelessness. It 
is asking us to believe too much, when we 
are told that there had been nothing but 
corruption in the Christian Church for 
centuries— that the vast body of the clergy 
were thinking only of their own earthly 
3i 



Zbc StotE of tbe ©rager $oofc 



comfort — that pastors cared nothing for the 
salvation of their flocks — that the Whole 
vast body of the monks, as well as all the 
rest, were entirely and universally living for 
themselves alone, and that all Christian 
prayers and Christian praises were looked 
upon by the vast body, both of the clergy 
and of the people, merely as magical rites. 

From the earliest periods we find injunc- 
tions placed upon the clergy that they 
should be careful to teach the people the 
Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten 
Commandments in their own tongue. For 
example, in the year 740 A. D., there was a 
canon of Egbert, Archbishop of York, to 
the effect " that every priest do, with great 
exactness, instil the Lord's Prayer and 
Creed into the people committed to him, 
and show them to endeavor after the knowl- 
edge of the whole of religion, and the prac- 
tice of Christianity." About the same time 
in the province of Canterbury, it is ordered 
that they "instil the Creed into them, that 
they may know what to believe and what 
to hope for." Two centuries later there is 
a canon of Aelfric, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, enjoining the clergy to "speak the 
sense of the Gospel to the people in 
English, and of the Pater Noster and the 
32 



OtiQin anD Sources 



Creed, as often as he can, for the inciting 
of the people to know their belief, and re- 
taining their Christianity/ 9 Similar in- 
junctions are to be found in the laws of 
Canute, in the eleventh century, the Con- 
stitutions of. Archbishop Peckharn in the 
thirteenth century, and in the canons of 
many diocesan synods of various dates in 
the mediaeval period. 

Many expositions of the Creed, Lord's 
Prayer, Ten Commandments, and other 
principal formulae of the faith are also to be 
found in Knglish; and these all give testi- 
mony of the same desire of the Church to 
make the most use possible of the language 
spoken by the poor of the day. Interlinear 
translations of some at least of the offices 
used in public worship were also provided, 
especially of the Litany, just as the English 
and Welsh Prayer Book of the Church of 
England, or the Latin and English Missal 
of the Roman Church, are printed in parallel 
columns in modern times. 

But books were scarce and costly, and 
very few people could read. The monas- 
teries produced all that were made, and it 
was slow work. They did something for 
the poor by means of horn-books. These 
were fastened up in the churches or other 
33 



Zbc Storg of tbe IPra^er JBooft 



places of worship, and usually had written 
upon them the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, 
and the Angelic Salutation, or something 
else of a similar character. 

Of course it is understood that there were 
many other services through the day than 
that of the Mass merely. The canonical 
hours, as they were called, w 7 ere observed to 
some extent quite generally, and there were 
times when they were observed in the 
monasteries w r ith great exactness. These 
w 7 ere a gradual growth from the prayers 
w T hich the devout Jews had been accustomed 
to offer at the third, sixth and ninth hours 
of the day, or in the morning, at noon, and 
in the evening; and it had come about that 
the full rule required as many as eight, and 
sometimes nine, distinct services during the 
twenty-four hours. These were Nocturns 
or Matins, sometimes called cock-crowing, 
as early as about two hours after midnight; 
Lauds, about daybreak; Prime, at about 
six o'clock; Tierce, at about nine o'clock; 
Sexts, at noon; Nones, at about three o'clock 
in the afternoon; Vespers, at about six in the 
evening; Compline, at bed-time. And to 
these was added, in some monasteries, 
Lucernarium, just after the lighting of the 
34 



OxiQhx anfc Sources 



lamps in the evening, although this service 
was usually joined on to Vespers. These 
services, all of them, consisted mostl3 r of 
psalms, with prayers and versicles. The 
whole of the psalms w r ere supposed to be 
read through every week. These services 
for the hours were the daily services. In 
addition to these, besides the service of the 
Mass, there were various Litanies, and the 
offices for special occasions. There was 
considerable reading from other parts of 
Holy Scripture besides the Psalms, at one 
time or another; and there w 7 as much read- 
ing from the Lives of the Saints, with whom 
the calendar was almost filled to overflow- 
ing, — or the Legends of the Saints as they 
might more properly be called. 

It was often the custom to accumulate 
several of these services together, one im- 
mediately following another, just as is the 
custom to-day in the Roman Church, and 
as our custom is when we have Morning 
Prayer, the Litany, and the Holy Commun- 
ion, or any two of them, follow each other 
in quick succession. 

These services, of course, w 7 ere originally 
all in Latin. The books containing the 
daily services w 7 ere called Breviaries or 
Portfories. The Mass Book w r as called the 
35 



Cbe Storg of tbe ©rarer JSooft 



Missal. The books containing occasional 
services were called Manuals. Those con- 
taining the services which could be used 
only by a bishop were called Pontificals. 
These latter were always in Latin only. 

A very important book w T as the Ordo, or 
Ordinal, which in the fifteenth century 
came to be know T n as the Pica, or the Pie. 
It was a sort of book of rubrics, which 
regulated the whole dut} r of the Canonical 
hours. The priest, on referring to this, 
might learn, according to the dominical 
letter, what festivals he was to observe, and 
the proper office appointed throughout the 
year, at least so far as any changes were re- 
quired in the common office of the day. 

These w T ere the principal service-books in 
use in England in the early part of the six- 
teenth century; and those which we need 
especially to keep in mind are the first three 
mentioned, the Breviary, the Manual, and 
the Missal, because the} 7 contained about 
everything with which the people had to do. 
Some of these, however, w 7 ere known under 
different names, and there were also various 
other books w T hich contained some parts of 
the sendee. One list of such books, pub- 
lished in 1544, speaks of 1 1 the Masse-book, 
the Graile, the Hympnal, the Antyphoner, 

36 



®xiQ\\\ anD Sources 



the Processyonall, the Manuel, the Porteaus, 
and the Prytner, both in latine and also in 
english." And the statute of 1549, which 
ordered the old church-books to be 4 ' abol- 
ished and extinguished/ ' described them 
under the names of Antiphoners, Missals, 
Grayles, Processionals, Manuals, Legends, 
Pies, Portuasses, Primers in Latin or Eng- 
lish, Couchers, Journals, and Ordinals. 

The Portiforium, another name for the 
Breviary, had a variety of English equiva- 
lents— Port fory, Portuary, Portuis (or Por- 
tuise), Portuasse, Porthoos, etc. The Bre- 
viaries were also sometimes called Books of 
the Hours, and, in later times, Primers. 

There were also smaller offices or books 
of devotion for the people. Such w r ere The 
Hours of the Holy Spirit, of the Blessed 
Trinity, of the Holy Cross. The most com- 
plete of all was The Hours of the Blessed 
Virgin. This was commonly called the 
Little Office. It w r as said by certain orders 
of monks, at one period, in addition to the 
Divine Office ; but it was used mostly by the 
people, who were very zealous in its use. 
Sometimes there were published with it also 
the Litany and occasional prayers; some- 
times the Dirge, the Seven Penitential 
Psalms, and various offices and prayers. 
37 



tlbe Storg oC tbe ipraget :$Book 



These minor offices were entirely in Latin 
for centuries, but they were put into the 
vernacular, Anglo-Saxon, at first in part 
and arranged in an interlinear manner, and 
then more fully, long before any other of the 
devotions had been translated, except prob- 
ably the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, and 
the Ten Commandments. The very earliest 
of the Anglo-Saxon Primers are supposed 
to have contained these latter; but those 
that followed at intervals contained other 
devotions of various kinds, until finally the 
Primer contained all the most important 
parts of the Breviary, and more. 

There is in existence a Prymer in Latin 
and Anglo-Saxon which must have been 
written as early as the tenth or eleventh 
century. As early as the fourteenth cen- 
tury, Prymers in Latin and Eiiglish began 
to be used by those who could afford them 
and could read them. They usually con- 
tained about one-third of the Psalms, the 
Canticles, the Apostles' Creed, with a large 
number of the prayers and anthems, and 
sometimes with hymns. They continued 
to be published up to the end of Henry 
VIII. 's reign, and in a modified form even 
later than that. Of course, they must have 
contributed to familiarize the people, to 
38 



OiiQin anfc Sources 



some extent, with a large portion of the 
Latin services. The contents of the earliest 
known copy, probably dated about 1400, 
called Maskell's Prymer from its modern 
publisher, are as follows: Matins and Hours 
of Our Lady, Even-song and Compline, 
the Seven Penitential Psalms, the Fifteen 
Psalms [120-134, called Psalmi Graduales, 
supposed to have been sung on the fifteen 
steps of the Temple], the Litany, Placebo, 
Dirge, the Psalms of Commendation, Pater 
Noster, Ave Maria, Creed, the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Seven Deadly Sins. 

In the place of Service books, also, the 
laity had been provided with devotional ex- 
positions of some of the services. Such a 
book in English rhyme, called 4 4 The Lay 
Folk's Mass Book, or the Manner of Hear- 
ing Mass, with Rubrics and Devotions for 
the People," was written in the twelfth cen- 
tury, and was very extensively used for a 
long time. Another similar book in Eng- 
lish prose, called " My Lady's Mirror," was 
written about 1430, and printed in 1530. It 
is a commentary upon the Hours, or Ser- 
vices for every day in the week, and upon 
the Mass — the whole of the former and the 
layman's part in the latter being translated. 

The translation of the Bible had also 
39 



Cbe Stovy of tbe prater 3Boofe 

helped to make the public services more in- 
structive. When manuscript English Bibles 
became common, in the fourteenth century, 
they usually contained a list of the Epistles 
and Gospels used in the Service of the Mass; 
and of course this tended to make some of 
the people more familiar with their meaning. 

It ought to be mentioned also that there 
was a popular service, held at about nine 
o'clock in the morning on Sundays and Fes- 
tivals, called 4 'The Aspersion Service/' 
which consisted of the Aspersion, or sprink- 
ling, of the people and the Church with 
blessed or holy water, followed by the 1 ' Bid- 
ding of Bedes " and a sermon or homily; and 
in this service the vernacular was used long 
before the Latin was given up in the other 
services. But even in this service there 
were several collects or prayers in Latin. 

This was the general condition of things 
in England, as regards books of worship, 
before the Reformation began. I have not 
dwelt at all upon the many corruptions in 
the worship caused by the corruptions in 
theology; the worship of the virgin and of 
the saints, corrupt and superstitious prac- 
tices in the Mass, as well as in the other 
sacraments, and the excessive ceremonial 
which had been made almost necessary from 
40 



©rtatn ant> Sources 



the fact that the words used were in a lan- 
guage unknown to the worshipers. All 
these things are well understood by all of us. 

But at length a change came. No matter 
about the causes which had produced it, 
the translation of the Bible, the invention 
of movable types, the revival in learning 
and letters, the ferment on the continent, 
the influence of Luther and Zwingle and 
Calvin and the rest, the influence of Wyclif 
and the Lollards in England in the years 
gone by, the corruptions among the monks 
and the clergy, the tyranny and worldliness 
and extortions of the Papacy, the quarrel 
on account of the divorce, the commingling 
of lust and greed and self-will and arrogance 
and conscientiousness and manliness and 
righteousness on the part of the king, the 
commingled worldliness and righteousness 
of the nobles and of the people, the subser- 
viency to the king, as well as the courage 
and the love of liberty, among all classes in 
the realm ; whatever may have been the 
cause or the causes for the change, the 
change had come. Rome was no longer 
supreme in England. Romish theology and 
Romish customs and Romish language were 
at a discount, and corresponding changes in 
the ritual of worship were imperatively de- 
. 4* 



XLbc Stors ot tbe ©ra^er ;B3ook 



manded. There must be changes in the 
form of the services, changes in the language 
of them, and changes in their doctrinal ex- 
pressions. 

In the first place, the various services had 
grown into a form which might be well 
adapted to monasteries, but was not at all 
suitable for parochial congregations; and 
after the abolition of the monasteries, it was 
evident that the services must be revised 
and condensed for general use. This was 
not so very difficult a work, for there were 
many repetitions in them. 

As to the language— the idea of giving up 
the Latin entirely, and having all parts of 
the services, those for the priests as well as 
those for the people, in the language which 
the people spoke and understood, w r as of 
gradual growth. In a sermon before Con- 
vocation, in 1536, by Hugh Latimer, the 
preacher, in speaking of Baptism, said, 
"Shall we evermore, in ministering it, speak 
Latin, and not English rather, that the peo- 
ple may know what is said and done?" 
The assent to this change was practically 
unanimous among the clergy. In a letter 
to Queen Mary respecting the committee 
appointed by Convocation in the reign of 
Henry VIII. , for the revision of the services, 
42 



QxiQin anD Sourcce 



Archbishop Cranmer said that although it 
was composed of men who held different 
opinions, they " agreed without controversy 
(not one saying contrary) that the service 
of the Church ought to be in the mother 
tongue." Bishop Ridley wrote to his chap- 
lain that he had conferred with many on the 
subject, and "never found man (so far as I 
do remember), neither old nor new, gos- 
peller nor papist, in what judgment soever 
he was, in this thing to be of a contrary 
opinion." 

The principal offices in use in England 
were those of Salisbury, called the Sarum 
offices. Some slight attempts to reform 
and condense these were made in the edi- 
tions of the Sarum Breviary published in 
1516 and in 1531, and the Sarum Missal of 
1509 is described as * 'amended." There 
was not much variation from the old form, 
however, except that there was some use 
made of the principles which were after- 
wards carried out more fully in the Prayer 
Book of 1549. The rubrics were somewhat 
simplified. It was also directed that Holy 
Scripture should be read in order, without 
omission. In the carrying out of this direc- 
tion, the lessons, which in actual use had 
been shortened at the discretion of the niin- 
43 



Cbe Stors ot tbe prater JSoofc 



ister, were restored to their ancient length. 
In 1533 a revised missal was published in 
which there was an especial apparatus for 
enabling the people to find the places of the 
Epistles and Gospels. In 1534 the Bishops 
began to revise Tyndale's translation of the 
Bible. Books containing the Epistles and 
Gospels in English were published, and a 
fresh impulse was given to the use of Prim- 
ers in which a large portion of the services 
was in English, including the Litany and 
a third of the Psalms. Afterwards the 
Epistles and Gospels were included in the 
Primers. 

Various editions of the Breviary were pub- 
lished at different times. Some of them 
were in the direction of further reform, 
while others indicated a slight reaction. 
The Primer of 1535 is spoken of by Froude 
as "passionate and polemical, 1 1 while that of 
1539, under the influence of Thomas Crom- 
well, was but slightly altered from the Bre- 
viary. 

Various editions of the English Bible, in 
whole and in parts, were also being pub- 
lished during these years, and were required 
to be read in churches. In 1536, in the pro- 
vince of York, and probably also in that of 
Canterbury, an order of the Archbishop was 
44 



©riflin anD Sources 



issued to the effect that ' 4 all curates and 
heads of congregations, religious and other, 
privileged and other, shall every holy day 
read the Gospel and the Epistle of that day 
out of the English Bible, plainly and dis- 
tinctly; and they that have such grace shall 
make some declaration, either of one or of 
both (if the time may serve), every holy 
day." 

In 1 542 also it was ordered by the Upper 
House of Convocation, 11 that every Sunday 
and holy day throughout the year, the cur- 
ate of every parish church, after the Te 
Deum and Magnificat, shall openly read 
unto the people one chapter of the New Tes- 
tament in English, without exposition; and 
when the New Testament is read over, then 
to begin the Old." 

And yet, in January of this same year, an 
Act of Parliament w T as passed which seemed 
to be in a direction exactly contrary to those 
orders of Convocation. Gardiner and the 
reactionary party evidently had more influ- 
ence in Parliament. It was alleged that 
abuses had arisen from the common reading 
of the Bible; and it was enacted that Tyn- 
dale's false translation of the Bible should 
be repressed, and other religious books con- 
trary to the Articles of Faith, also all books 
45 



ZTbc Storg of tbe ©ra^er $oofc 



impugning the Sacrament of the Altar, or 
maintaining the damnable opinions of the 
Anabaptists. The reading of the Bible was 
also prohibited to every one below the rank 
of gentleman or gentlewoman. No arti- 
ficers, apprentices, journeymen, servants, or 
husbandmen were allowed the privilege. 
And no one was permitted to read or ex- 
pound the Scriptures in any open assembly 
without a license from the king or the ordi- 
nary. 

Two other books ought to be mentioned 
which had an important influence upon the 
development of the doctrines held among 
the people. The first of these, " The Insti- 
tution of a Christian Man," sometimes 
called "The Bishop's Book," because it 
had been set forth by the King through the 
influence of the Bishops and clergy, was 
published in 1537. It contained an expla- 
nation of the Creed, the Seven Sacraments, 
the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, 
and the Ave Maria, with articles on Justifi- 
cation and Purgatory. Its object, as stated 
in the preface, was " to set forth a plain and 
sincere doctrine concerning the whole sum 
of all those things which appertain unto the 
profession of a Christian man." Its evident 
aim was to conciliate the Reformers and the 

46 



©rfflin anD Sources 



doctrinal Romanists. The corporal presence 
in the Sacrament of the Altar was asserted, 
without affirming that the substance of bread 
and wine was destroyed. The Supremacy 
of the Pope was shown to be a usurpation 
unknown in the primitive ages. On the 
whole, it favored the Reformed doctrines. 

The other book referred to, which was 
begun in 1 540 by a commission of clergy ap- 
pointed by the King, and was published in 
1543, was called "The Necessary Doctrine 
and Erudition of a Christian Man." It 
was called " The King's Book," because it 
had not been sanctioned by Convocation, -as 
the previous work had been, but had re- 
ceived the personal approval of the king, 
who is supposed to have had a large share 
in its composition. In many points it was 
much like the previous work, but on the 
whole it was reactionary in tendency. It 
affirmed Transubstantiation, and attempted 
to justify the recent law which prohibited 
the reading of the Scriptures by the common 
people. In most respects it upheld the 
Romish doctrine, but not in the matter of 
the Papal Supremacy. 

As to doctrinal formularies. In 1536, 
what was called the Ten Articles of Religion 
had been set forth by the King with the 
47 



Zbc Storg of tbe prater JSooft 

authority of Convocation. To read these 
articles now, one would not suppose that 
the Reformation had proceeded very far; but 
it is certain that at the time of their pro- 
mulgation they were received with greater 
pleasure by the Reformers than by the 
Romanists. And a more careful scrutiny 
shows that they did away with many abuses, 
and that there were in them germs which 
would be likely to lead to something better. 

But the king soon got an idea that the 
Reformation was in danger of being too 
radical in character, and a reaction took 
place in his mind and conduct. This re- 
sulted in the anti-reforming and persecuting 
Act of the Six Articles, called the Whip with 
Six Cords, which was promulgated by the 
King in 1539, with the authority of Parlia- 
ment and of Convocation. The King's Su- 
premacy was of course upheld in this Act, 
but also (1) Transubstantiation; (2) Com- 
munion in both kinds not necessary; (3) 
Priests may not marry; (4) Vows of chas- 
tity are binding ; (5) Private masses are 
meet and necessary; (6) Auricular confes- 
sion to a priest is necessary, and should be 
frequently used. The penalties attached 
to any preaching or writing against these 
Articles were terribly severe, being no less 
48 



Origin an& Sources 



than forfeiture of goods and death. It is 
believed, however, that these penalties were 
almost never inflicted. The Act was re- 
pealed in the first year of Edward the Sixth. 

But to return to the ritual. On March 3, 
1 541, by order of Convocation, the Salisbury 
use was adopted throughout the Province of 
Canterbury, and thus there was secured a 
uniformity in ritual which had not existed 
before since the days of Augustine. The 
Salisbury books were now printed in Eng- 
land, instead of being issued from Paris, as 
formerly. In 1542 an order of Convocation 
brought the Salisbury Breviary into use all 
over England. But all these measures were 
regarded as only temporary. Of these later 
books there were printed only as many as 
were likely to be used at once, because it 
was seen that a more thorough revision of 
them must soon be made. 

In this very session of 1542-3, Convoca- 
tion entered upon the work of Liturgical 
revision, which resulted in the Book of 
Common Prayer. At one of the first meet- 
ings, the president read Letters of Business 
from the Crown, in which his Majesty di- 
rected that 4 'all Mass-books, Antiphoners, 
Portuises in the Church of England should 
be newly examined, corrected, reformed, 
49 



Cbe Stors of tbc IPsa^cr $ook 

and castigated from all manner of mention 
of the Bishop of Rome's name, from all 
apocryphas, feigned legends, superstitious 
orations, collects, versicles and responses; 
that the names and memories of all saints 
which be not mentioned in the Scriptures 
or authentical doctors, should be abolished 
and put out of the same books and calen- 
dars, and that the service should be made 
out of the Scripture and other authentic 
doctors.' ' The name of Thomas Becket 
was mentioned in particular to be ex- 
punged. For carrying out the details of 
this w T ork, a committee was appointed which 
consisted of the Bishops of Salisbury and 
Ely, each assisted by three members of the 
lower House. This committee continued 
in existence seven years. It could not do 
very much publicly until after the death of 
Henry, on account of the statute of the Six 
Articles. Henry died on January 28, 1547. 
The articles were soon repealed. The com- 
mittee was then largely increased in num- 
ber. The Archbishop, Cranmer, became 
its president; and the First Prayer Book of 
Edward VI., published in 1549, was the re- 
sult. 

Previous to that time, however, some 
further progress had been made. In 1544, 
50 



©xiQin anfc Sources 

a revised litany had been published. It 
was made up from several old litanies 
which had been used in processions. It was 
ordered by Convocation that this should 
be read in churches after processions, and 
also that it might be said or sung in pro- 
cessions. It is nearly the same Litany that 
we have to-day, with the exception of a few 
prayers to saints and angels, and the clause 
4 * from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome 
and all his detestable enormities." 

In 1545, also, a Primer, called the Primer 
of Henry VIII., was put forth under the 
title, "The Primer set forth by the King's 
Majesty and his clergy, to be taught, 
learned and read, and none other to be 
used, throughout his dominions." It had 
been compiled by Cranmer and approved by 
Convocation. It contained the Lord's 
Prayer, Ave Maria, The Apostles' Creed, 
The Ten Commandments, Certain Graces, 
Matins, Evensong, Compline, The Seven 
Psalms, The Litany, The Dirge, The Com- 
mendations, The Psalms of the Passion 
(xxii.-liv.-lxix-lxxxviii.-xL*), The Passion 
of Our Lord, Certain Godly Prayers for Sun- 
dry Purposes, besides the Calendar and the 
King's Highness' Injunctions. Some im- 
portant steps, then, towards a satisfactory 
5i 



XLbc ©ton? of tbe ©rager JBooft 



liturgy, had been made under Henry VIII.; 
but it was only a good beginning. 

In the meantime, something in the way 
of revising its ritual had been done in the 
Roman Church itself. A new version of the 
Breviary Hymns was issued, under the 
Papal authority, in 1525. And in 1535-6 a 
reformed, or revised, Roman Breviary was 
published, also under Papal authority, by 
Cardinal Quignonez, a Spanish Bishop. 
But this Romish w T ork differed from the 
English breviaries, in that it was not at all 
intended for popular use, but for the use of 
the clergy and the monks only. Its intro- 
duction in some places for choir and public 
use led to its suppression in 1568. It is 
worthy of mention here, both in the way of 
contrast, and because it was of considerable 
use to the English committee of revision. 

With the death of Henry VIII., and the 
accession of his only son, Edward VI., a 
change at once took place in the religious 
condition of the kingdom. The ministers 
and guardians of the young king, as well 
as the king himself, were thoroughly indoc- 
trinated with the principles of the Reforma- 
tion. Convocation at once took up the de- 
la}^ed work of the revision of the services, 
52 



Oxigin and Sources 



and Parliament gave to the work its hearty- 
support. The newly constituted Committee 
of Revision consisted of Archbishop Cran- 
mer, and the Bishops of Ely, Lincoln, Chi- 
chester, Hereford, Westminster and Roch- 
ester, assisted by six clergymen from the 
lower House, and in some manner aided 
by Archbishop Holdgate of York and his 
suffragan Bishops. They set themselves to 
work at Windsor, in January, 1548, " hav- 
ing respect to the pure religion Christ 
taught in the Scripture, and the practice of 
the Primitive Church.' ' 

The Order of the Communion was first 
published. It retained the Latin, revised, 
as far as through the communion of the 
priest. The rest of it, including the form 
for the communion of the people, was in 
English. This was issued on March 8, 
1548, to come into use on the following 
Easter. 

Then the work on the Breviary was taken 
up, and it was finished by the following 
November. They then went to work on 
the Missal again. The whole work was 
soon finished, was approved by Convoca- 
tion, and was laid before Parliament on 
December 19th. It was approved by Parlia- 
ment in January, although opposed by 
53 



Gbe Srorg of the ©rager S3ooft 

eight of the Bishops; and the Act of Uni- 
formity required that it should go into gen- 
eral use on the following Whitsunday, June 
*9> J 549- It was used by some before that 
date. 

The Committee had had before them 
in their labors the following books: The 
Salisbury (or Sarum) Portiforium or Brev- 
iary, and Missal, Manual and Pontifical; 
the York and other English uses also, 
those of Hereford, Bangor and Lincoln: 
The Mozarabic (or Spanish) Missal and 
Breviary; The Reformed Roman Breviary 
of Cardinal Quignonez; The " Simplex ac 
Pia Deliberatio" of Hermann, Archbishop of 
Cologne, 1545; The same in the edition of 
1547; The same in English, 1548; Various 
English Prymers; The Great Bible in 
English. 

The book produced was very different 
from any English service book that had 
been seen before. The Romish supersti- 
tions had been purged away. The w 7 orship 
of the Blessed Virgin and of the saints had 
vanished. While most of the book w r as a 
translation, the collects for Saints' Days had 
been almost entirely re-writteu, and some 
other necessary parts which it had been im- 
54 



Origin an& Sources 



possible to reform otherwise. The most of 
the saints had been dropped from the cal- 
endar. 

But while Romanism had been expunged, 
the book still clung fondly to many of 
the traditions of the past. It would not 
satisfy the ultra-Protestants, for it was still, 
in the best sense, truly Catholic. The 
Communion was given in both kinds, but 
it was required that the bread should be 
unleavened. The elements were spoken of as 
the Body and Blood of our Lord, while the 
Memorial was not so much emphasized as it 
is to-day. The officiating minister was still 
a priest. The Holy Table was still an 
Altar. The distinctive eucharistic vest- 
ments were required. Prayers for the dead 
were retained in the Burial Service, and in 
the Prayer for the Church Militant in the 
Communion Office. From the Breviary, 
Matins, L,auds and Prime, of the services 
for the Canonical Hours, had been con- 
densed into Matins. Tierce, Sext, and 
Nones, did not appear, as they had long be- 
fore that gone out of use. Vespers and 
Compline had been condensed into Even- 
song. Matins and Evensong were both 
much shorter than are Morning and Even- 
ing Prayer in the Prayer Books of to-day, 
55 



Gbe Stors of tbe prater Sock 

since each began at the Lord's Prayer and 
ended with the third collect. The Book of 
Psalms was to be read through once every 
month, instead of every week, as formerly. 
In the Communion Office, the Psalms 
called the Introits, just before the Collects 
for the Day, were retained. 

It was a wonderful change that had taken 
place from the days when the services were 
conducted by the priests alone and their 
assistants, when the people had but little 
part, and could comprehend but dimly. 
For, in the fulness of time, there had come 
to the people of England a book, a Prayer 
Book, which, through all its revisions and 
vicissitudes, has remained the same in its 
most important features; and which had 
then, as it has now, for one of its strongest 
claims to men's regard, the fact, asserted in 
its title, that it was a Book of COMMON 
Prayer." 

56 



PART II. 



THE ENGLISH PRAYER BOOK 
FROM 1549 TO 1892. 



PART II. -THE ENGLISH PRAYER 
BOOK FROM 1549 TO 1892. 

The Prayer Book issued in 1549, of which 
I have been speaking, is called " The First 
Prayer Book of King Edward the Sixth." 
While it is essentially the same as the book 
used by us to-day, still, when the two are 
compared, many differences are noticed, of 
greater or less importance. 

I wish to trace briefly the history of the 
Prayer Book from 1549 to the present time, 
speaking in a somewhat general way of the 
various revisions which have been made. 

Summarily, the principal editions of the 
Prayer Book since it was first issued and 
required to be used in churches, are as fol- 
lows: 

1. First Prayer Book of King Edward 

VI.— 1549. 

2. Second Prayer Book of King Edward 

VL-1552. 

3. Prayer Book of Elizabeth — 1559. 

4. Prayer Book revised under James I. — 
1604. 

57 



Zbc 5tot£ ot tbe prater :fi3ook 



5. Prayer Book revised under Charles II. 
— 1662. 

This latter is substantially the English 
Prayer Book of to-day. 

Besides these there have been: 

6. The ' 4 Scotch Prayer Book," first is- 
sued in 1637. 

7. The " Irish Prayer Book," which was 
the English Book of 1662 slightly changed, 
and then quite extensively revised in the 
edition of 1877, after the disestablishment of 
the Irish Church. 

8. The American Prayer Book, first 
issued in 1789. 

9. The Revision of this latter Book, com- 
pleted in 1892. 

Several other editions of less general im- 
portance will be noticed in their proper 
place. They may be classed as (1) Inde- 
pendent Prayer Books; (2) Socinian Prayer 
Books; (3) The Methodist Book of Disci- 
pline. 

I. 

FIRST PRAYER BOOK OF KING EDWARD VI. 

This Book has already been described, 
and its history has been traced. While 
it was generally accepted and used, still 
there were very many who were much 
58 



jEnfllteb prater ffiooft from 1540 to 1892 



displeased with it. It has been said that it 
gave complete satisfaction to nobody. 
Those with papistical tendencies, and those 
who loved the ancient superstitions, were 
everywhere opposed to it. 

In the West of England there was vio- 
lent opposition to it, even to the point of re- 
bellion. The people in that section did not 
want a Prayer Book in the English tongue, 
because they could not understand the 
English tongue. Their dialects were very 
corrupt, and could scarcely be called 
English. The Latin books w T ere endeared 
to them by long association and because of 
ancient esteem, and they were familiar with 
the Romish forms and ceremonies and 
usages. 

And, on the other hand, the Puritan 
party, the ultra-reformed, disliked the book 
because it did not go far enough. They 
desired the removal of everything which 
might even seem to suggest beliefs and 
practices which had been dear to Rome. 
These Puritanical tendencies were especially 
encouraged and strengthened by certain 
theologians from the Continent, from Ger- 
many and Switzerland, who had come to 
England and had been put into positions of 
influence, in the universities and elsewhere. 
59 



XLbc 5tot£ of tbe prater $ooft 



Especially prominent among these were 
Fagius, and Bucer, and Peter Martyr, and 
John a Lasko, a Pole. These were all very 
able and very agreeable men, but they were 
not entirely in sympathy w r ith the general 
spirit and tendencies of the English people. 

Their extreme views had been imbibed 
from Calvin and Zwingle, and had been fos- 
tered by the conditions of violence and tur- 
moil in which they had been reared. Of 
course they were of a cast of mind also 
which made them well adapted to cherish 
and to extend such views. 

Many of the English theologians also 
were in most thorough sympathy with 
these ideas, the most prominent among 
w 7 horn were Bishops Hooper and Ridley. 
Archbishop Cranmer also adopted these 
views to quite an extent, and was certainly 
very much influenced by them. The young 
king also had a very strong tendency in the 
same direction — as well as many of the 
most powerful of the statesmen, especially 
the Protector, Somerset, and his successor 
in office, the Duke of Northumberland. 
The result of this influence was the Second 
Prayer Book of King Edward VI. 

60 



jBnfllteb Prater ;©ook from 1549 to 1892 



II. 

SECOND PRAYER BOOK OF KING EDWARD VI. 

This was never adopted by Convocation, 
but it was approved by the King, and was 
adopted by Parliament in 1552, — and its use 
was to be enforced. Before it had been 
used very much, however, anywhere, and 
probably before it had been used at all in 
some places, the King died, Queen Mary 
succeeded him, and the Romish worship 
was restored. 

The Book of 1552 is of great importance 
for two reasons: because, when taken in 
connection with the First Book, it shows the 
views and tendencies of the times; and be- 
cause it was used as the basis of the subse- 
quent revision in the reign of Elizabeth. 

As compared with the Book of 1549, the 
chief points of difference are as follows: 
The title priest is in almost all cases dis- 
placed by that of minister. The eucharistic 
vestments were prohibited: the bishop 
could wear only a rochet; the priest or dea- 
con, only a surplice. The altar was called 
a communion table, or simply a table, and 
it might stand "in the body of the church 
or in the chancel.' ' The minister during 
the service must be turned "so as the 
61 



Hbe Storg of tbe jpraget S3ooft 



people may best hear." The titles " Morn- 
ing Prayer ' ' and 1 ' Evening Prayer 9 ' 
are substituted for Matins and Evensong. 
The title of the communion office is changed 
from " The Supper of the Lord and 
The Holy Communion, commonly called 
the Mass," to "The Order for the Ad- 
ministration of the Lord's Supper or 
Holy Communion." Morning and Even- 
ing Prayer, which in the first book began 
with the Lord's Prayer, were enlarged by 
prefixing certain sentences of Holy Scrip- 
ture and the General Confession and Abso- 
lution. Alternate chants were also pro- 
vided after the lessons. After the first lesson 
at Morning Prayer, the first Prayer Book 
required that the Te Deutn should always 
be used except in Lent, when the Benedicite 
must be used. The second book required 
the use of the Te Deum daily throughout 
the year, but allowed the Benedicite to be 
substituted for it on any day. These ser- 
vices still end with the Third Collect; and 
the prayers for the Royal family and those 
in authority, are, as before, in the first part 
of the Communion office. 

The place of the Litany was changed so 
that it came immediately after the daily ser- 
vices, instead of after the Communion Office, 
62 



Enalteb ©ra^er $ook trom 1549 to 1892 



as formerly; and its use was required on 
Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and 
4 4 at other times when it shall be com- 
manded by the Ordinary/ 9 that is, by the 
Bishop in charge. 

In the Baptismal Service the Exorcism 
was ommitted, and trine immersion was no 
longer required. The ceremony of clothing 
the recipient "with the white vesture com- 
monly called the crisome" was also omitted, 
and the anointing. Anointing was also 
omitted in the Office for the Visitation of 
the Sick; and the sign of the cross was to 
be omitted in Confirmation. In the Burial 
Service the prayers for the dead were 
omitted; and there was no especial provision 
for the celebration of the Holy Communion 
at a burial, as there had been in the first 
book. 

In the Order for the Holy Communion 
the changes were very marked. The 
change in title has already been alluded to. 
The psalms at the beginning, called introits, 
were omitted, and have never been re- 
stored. The Commandments were inserted. 
The prayer "for the whole state of Christ's 
Church" was changed so as to be a prayer 
14 for the whole state of Christ's Church 
militant here in earth." In this prayer the 
63 



Cbc StotB of tbe ©rager J3ooft 



petition for the dead was omitted, as also 
the thanksgiving for the 1 'wonderful grace 
and virtue declared in all thy saints from 
the beginning of the world, and chiefly in 
the glorious and most blessed Virgin Mary, 
Mother of thy Son Jesus Christ, Our Lord 
and God, and in the holy Patriarchs, 
Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs.* ' There 
were other changes also in the prayers and 
in other parts of the service, and changes in 
the arrangement of the various parts. The 
Agnus Dei was omitted. 

Unleavened bread was no longer required, 
nor the mixing of the wine with water. 
The rubrics in the first book requiring that 
the priest should not celebrate unless there 
were some one to communicate with him, 
were strengthened in the provision that 
there should be no celebration unless there 
were "a good number M to communicate 
with the priest. It was also required that 
all should communicate at least three times 
per year, of which Easter should be one. 
Reservation for the sick was prohibited, 
and it was declared that such of the ele- 
ments as might be left after communion 
should be for the use of the curate. 

Very noticeable was the change in the 
words to be used by the priest in delivering 
64 



Bnolteb Prater $oofc from t549 to 1802 



the elements. In the first book: "The 
body of our I/)rd Jesus Christ, which was 
given for thee, preserve thy body and soul 
unto everlasting life." — "The blood of our 
I^ord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, 
preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting 
life." In the second book: " Take and eat 
this in remembrance that Christ died for 
thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, 
with thanksgiving." — "Drink this in re- 
membrance that Christ's blood was shed 
for thee, and be thankful." The first 
formulae were not inconsistent with tran- 
substantiation; the second emphasized re- 
membrance. 

In the first book it was directed that " it 
is thought convenient the people commonly 
receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body in 
their mouths, at the Priest's hand," lest 
they might take it away and superstitiously 
venerate it. In the second book the direc- 
tion was that "the minister" should de- 
liver "the bread," and "the cup," "to the 
people in their hands, kneeling," evidently 
with a still stronger intent to guard against 
superstition. The communicants were still 
required to receive the elements kneeling, 
in spite of strong objections from some 
quarters; but there was a rubric called "the 
65 



ZTbe Storg of tbe Iprager $ooft 



Black rubric,' * from the color in which it 
was first printed, which was added at the 
very last moment, and at first inserted on a 
fly-leaf after some of the copies had gone 
through the press, the intent of which was 
to prevent any one from thinking that by 
being in a kneeling position he was wor- 
shiping the bread and wine as the actual 
body and blood of our Lord really present 
in them. 

It seems to be the fashion among church- 
men in these days to decry this second 
book, and to praise the first one as far 
superior; but in my opinion most of the 
changes which had been made were in the 
right direction. While there were errors 
and imperfections in the Book, and while it 
had been too much Protestantized, it was, 
nevertheless, a much more complete book 
than the first one, its theological errors were 
probably of a less injurious character, and 
it was absolutely free from anything which 
could foster superstition. It was the first 
book grown almost to manhood. 

In regard to this book thus so far ad- 
vanced towards completion, and in regard 
to the person to whom, more than to any 
66 



Enfllfsb Draper :t3oo& from 1549 to 1892 

other one man, its excellencies were due, I 
cannot do better than to quote at large the 
words of Mr. Froude (Hist, of Eng., vol. 5, 
p. 364 f.): 

"As the translation of the Bible bears 
upon it the imprint of the mind of Tyndal, 
so, while the Church of England remains, 
the image of Cranmer will be seen reflected 
on the calm surface of the Liturgy. 

"The most beautiful portions of it are 
translations from the Breviary ; yet the 
same prayers translated by others would 
not be those which chime like church bells 
in the ears of the English child. The trans- 
lations, and the addresses which are orig- 
inal, have the same silvery melody of lan- 
guage, and breathe the same simplicity of 
spirit. So long as Cranmer trusted him- 
self, and would not let himself be dragged 
beyond his convictions, he was the repre- 
sentative of the feelings of the best among 
his countrymen. With the reverent love for 
the past which could appropriate its excel- 
lencies, he could feel at the same time the 
necessity for change. While he could no 
longer regard the sacraments with a super- 
stitious idolatry, he saw in them ordinances 
divinely appointed, and therefore especially, 
if inexplicably, sacred. 

6 7 



Cbe Srors of tbe prater asooft 

"In this temper, for the most part, the 
English church services had now, after 
patient labor, been at length completed by 
him, and were about to be laid before Par- 
liament. They had grown slowly. First 
had come the primers of Henry VIII.; then 
the Litany was added; and then the first 
Communion-book. The next step w r as the 
Prayer-book of 1549; and now at last the 
complete Liturgy, which survives after 
three hundred years. In a few sentences 
only, inserted apparently under the in- 
fluence of Ridley, doctrinal theories were 
pressed beyond the point to which opinion 
was legitimately gravitating. The priest 
was converted absolutely into a minister, 
the altar into a table, the eucharist into a 
commemoration, and a commemoration only. 
But these peculiarities were uncongenial 
with the rest of the Liturgy, with which 
they refuse to harmonize; and on the final 
establishment of the Church of England, 
were dropped or modified. They were, in 
fact, the seed of vital alterations, for which 
the nation was unprepared; which, had Ed- 
ward lived two 3'ears longer, would have 
produced, first, the destruction of the church 
as a body politic, and then an after-fruit of 
reaction more inveterate than even the ter- 
68 



Bnaltsb prater asooli trom 1549 to 1892 



rible one under Mary. But Edward died 
before the Liturgy could be further tam- 
pered with; and, from amidst the foul weeds 
in which its roots were buried, it stands up 
beautiful, the one admirable thing which 
the unhappy reign produced. Prematurely 
born, and too violently forced upon the 
country, it was, nevertheless, the right 
thing, the thing which essentially answered 
to the spiritual demands of the nation. 
They rebelled against it, because it was 
precipitately thrust upon them; but ser- 
vices which have overlived so many storms 
speak for their own excellence, and speak 
for the merit of the workman. 1 9 

III. 

THK PRAYKR BOOK OF ELIZABETH. 

King Edward died on July 6, 1553, only 
about eight months after the publication of 
the Second Prayer Book, and before it had 
come into general use all over the Kingdom. 
On the accession of Queen Mary there was a 
restoration of Romanism, and the use of the 
English Prayer Book was prohibited. 

On the accession of Elizabeth, in 1558, the 
Prayer Book again came into use, after a 
short delay. A committee for its revision, 
69 



Gbe Stors of tbe ©rager :fi3ook 



however, was soon appointed, w T hich was 
headed by Archbishop Parker. The design 
was to have a book which people of every 
shade of opinion could conscientiously unite 
in using. 

The Prayer Book of Elizabeth was the 
result. This w r as issued in 1559, and w 7 as, 
as far as possible, a combination of the best 
features of both of those of Edward's reign. 
It resembled most the Prayer Book of 1552, 
w T hich w r as made the basis of the revision, 
and the changes from that w T ere very few, 
although very important. 

One notable change was in the Litany, 
which had been restored to use before the 
other parts of the Book, — at first in the Royal 
Chapel, and then elsewhere, — by the omis- 
sion of the petition for deliverance from ' ' the 
tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his 
detestable enormities.' 1 

The most important changes were in the 
rubrics. In those at the beginning of the 
Order for Morning Prayer, the part was 
omitted w T hich directs that "The Morning 
and Evening Prayer shall be used in such 
place of the Church, Chapel or Chauncel, 
and the minister shall so turn him, as ye 
people may best hear." The part was 
retained which directs that 1 1 the chauncels 
70 



Bnglteb prater $ooft from 1549 to 1892 



shall remain as they have done in times 
past." The rubric prohibiting the use of 
the sacrificial vestments was omitted, and in 
its place was the following rubric: u And 
here is to be noted that the minister, at the 
time of the communion, and at all other 
times in his ministration, shall use such 
ornaments in the Church as were in use by 
authority of Parliament in the second year 
of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, 
according to the Act of Parliament set in 
the beginning of this book." 

In the Order for the Holy Communion 
the " Black rubric " was omitted; and a very 
important change was made in the form for 
the Administration of the Elements, where 
the tw r o clauses, from the books of 1549 and 
1552, respectively, w T ere combined, making 
the form as we have it now. 

There were no other changes of import- 
ance. 

It is thus seen that the Prayer Book 
of Elizabeth possessed all the excellencies 
of the second book of King Edward, and 
that the important changes were all in the 
direction of charity, of liberty, and of true 
Catholicity. 

It ought to be mentioned that at the end 
of many of the prayer books were appended 
7i 



Zbc Storg of tbe ©ra^er JSoofc 

certain " Godly Prayers," intended espe- 
cially for the private devotions of the people, 
after the manner of the ancient primers. 
Other pra}^ers were afterwards added to 
those first published, and also a musical 
version of the Psalms. 

It may not be amiss to speak a word in 
this connection, in regard to the far-seeing 
Providence of God. The English Prayer 
Book has exercised an immense influence 
over the English people, an influence which, 
perhaps, in the broader sense, has only just 
begun. But the Prayer Book of Elizabeth, 
which has been the mother of all succeeding 
versions, was far better than either of the 
versions which had been put forth during 
the reign of Edward, and no one holds that 
it was not an improvement on its immediate 
predecessor. The second book of King Ed- 
ward was not Catholic, and it did not pretend 
to be so. It was designed to conciliate the 
ultra- Protestants; and it must inevitably have 
alienated the Catholics. But, at the same 
time, it did not go so far as the ultra- Protest- 
ants desired it to go, not so far as they would 
have been likely to carry it if they could have 
had their way. A book of such a character, 
or any revision of it in the direction of Prot- 
72 



Bnsltab prater $oofc from 1549 to 1892 



estantism, could not have been a rallying 
standard for Churchmen during the dark 
days of the Revolution and during the years 
which followed. And herein do I manifestly 
see the Providence of God; for it seems clear 
to me that this Book of Elizabeth never could 
have been produced if the reactionary reign 
of Queen Mary had not intervened, a reign 
which had removed the Book of King Ed- 
ward, and had restored the Romish wor- 
ship. Something of the kind was needed 
to make a truly Catholic revision possible 
and acceptable. 

This book is rightly called the Prayer 
Book of Queen Elizabeth. While Cranmer 
still deserves the greatest credit for its liter- 
ary and devotional character, to the great 
Queen is due the fact that it was made 
Catholic, and that it w r as given as a per- 
manent heritage to the English Church and 
the English people. That the Queen took 
the part of wise statesmanship in thus en- 
deavoring to unite the religious factions of 
her realm, cannot be doubted; but that 
policy was the only motive which actuated 
her, is beyond belief when one considers 
fairly the circumstances, and the influences 
which were brought to bear upon her. 
73 



Zbc Storg of tbe prater JSocft 

The vast majority of the clergy, including 
nearly all the bishops, since they had been 
placed in their positions by the government 
of Queen Mary, were in favor of the Papal 
Supremacy. Even after the Act of Uni- 
formity had been passed by Parliament, 
efforts were made to stay its execution. 
The Queen called together her Privy Coun- 
cil and the whole body of the Bishops, and 
other ecclesiastics of distinction, to confer 
with them on the religious situation. She 
met this assembly on the fifteenth day of 
May, 1559. In her address to them, she dwelt 
upon the Act of Supremacy, and appealed 
to them to aid her in ''abolishing super- 
stitution from the worship of the Church. 1 ' 
In reply, Archbishop Heath rose, "in the 
name of God and the Church," and en- 
treated her to reconsider her determination. 
He predicted the direful consequences if the 
See of St. Peter should cease to be obeyed. 
The Queen answered with a dignity and 
calmness that were wonderful in one so 
young, before such an assembly. Pier 
w r ords of courage and of piety on this occa- 
sion should excuse many a shortcoming. 
"As for me and my house," she said, "we 
will serve the Lord. My aim is to bind 
myself and my people to Christ, the King 
of kings, and not to the Roman See." 
74 



jBnglieb ftrager Booft from 1549 to 1892 

Henry VIII. denied the Papal Supremacy 
in England, as other Kings of England had 
done before him. Under Edward VI. the 
Church and its worship were made Protest- 
ant. The papal reaction came under Mary. 
And under Elizabeth the Church and its 
worship were again made truly Catholic, 
and were established on so firm a basis that 
the power of Rome could never overthrow 
them. Harsh things were done in the con- 
flict, without doubt, and freedom of con- 
science often seemed to be well-nigh de- 
stroyed; but it was a life and death struggle, 
both for Church and State, against enemies 
unscrupulous on the one hand, and often 
factious and unreasonable on the other. 
' ' He that is without sin, let him first cast 
a stone.' f 

The new order of things met with much 
opposition, of course, in certain quarters ; 
but it was still in so many respects so simi- 
lar to what had been, and there were so 
many motives of various kinds which con- 
tributed to its support, that from the coun- 
try and the people at large it received 
general acceptance. Out of ninety-eight 
clergy in London, thirty-seven at first re- 
fused compliance ; but out of the nine 
75 



Zbc £tor$ of tbe prater $oofe 



thousand four hundred clergy in the king- 
dom, only one hundred and eighty-nine 
remained recusant. Those who continued 
obstinate were deprived of their livings. 

The Act of Uniformity, which was pub- 
lished in the Prayer Book, provided " that if 
there shall happen any contempt or irrever- 
ence to be used in the ceremonies or rites 
of the Church, by the misusing of the orders 
appointed in this book, the Queen's Majesty 
may, by the like advice of the said commis- 
sioners or Metropolitan, ordain and publish 
such further ceremonies or rites as may be 
most for the advancement of God's glory, 
the edifying of His Church, and the due 
reverence of Christ's holy Mysteries and 
Sacraments." Under this clause the Queen 
soon issued a body of " Inj unctions,' ' to in- 
sure conformity in some essential particu- 
lars. One was in regard to the use of 
music in the service, and the singing of 
hymns at the beginning and end. Another 
was in regard to reverencing the name 
of Jesus in the services, by bowing and un- 
covering 1 the head whenever it should be 

1 It startles ns to read that men commonly wore 
hats in church. It may have been for protection 
against cold. 

7 6 



EnflUsb praget :fi3oofc trom 1540 to 1892 



pronounced, an ancient practice which had 
come to be somewhat neglected. There 
were other Injunctions less worthy of men- 
tion. 

In 1561, a revised calendar was issued. 
In 1 566, in reply to the demands of the Puri- 
tans, certain " Advertisements " were issued 
in regard to the use of vestments. These 
did not do away with the "ornaments ru- 
bric," which remained; but the surplice 
was declared to be a sufficient vestment for 
the clergyman. As a result, while the dis- 
tinctive vestments were still allowed, their 
use came to be very rare indeed. 

Very many special services for occasions 
of public national interest were issued dur- 
ing this long reign. Among them may be 
mentioned "A form of Prayer to be used 
twice a week during the Plague," issued in 
1553; "A Thanksgiving to God for with- 
drawing and ceasing the Plague," in the 
same year; Forms of Prayer for " Preserva- 
tion from the Turks," for "Preservation 
from the Spanish Armada," for "the Suc- 
cess of the French King," for "the Safety 
of the Queen," for "the Success of Her 
Majesty's forces; " and forms of Thanks- 
giving for various national deliverances. 
77 



Gbe 5tor£ ot tbe prater JSocft 

Of course these did not alter the general 
character of the Prayer Book itself; they 
were merely temporary additions to it. 

I have said that the Prayer Book of 
Elizabeth was Catholic. There were many 
ambiguous phrases and many alternative 
prayers. It was not, indeed, made for 
Papists, nor for heretics; but it was made 
for all Christians, for Catholics, for Luth- 
erans, for Calvinists, for Zwinglians — for all 
true Englishmen,— that all might worship 
together in one great national Church of 
Christ, the Church of England. It was 
made as it was with this design and for this 
use; and as such, it was, as I have said, 
eminently satisfactory to the nation at large. 

IV. 

The Ultra-Protestants, however, were 
not pleased with this book. They were 
fast coming to the point of not wanting any 
Prayer Book at all — if they had not already 
reached that point. With them, altars, 
vestments, "stinted prayers/ ' as old cus- 
toms and old beliefs of almost every kind, 
without much discrimination, were "rags 
of Popery/ ' and so were born of Satan and 
to be utterly condemned. Accordingly, 
73 



jEngUeb prater 3Booft trom 1549 to 1892 



upon the accession of James I., in 1603, the 
Puritan clergy, as the least that they could 
do, made urgent but unreasonable demands 
for Prayer Book revision. They had some 
hopes of success, for the King had been 
brought up in Scotland by Presbyterians. 

M The Millenary Petition," so called from 
the number of appended signatures,- was 
presented to the King, in which it was 
stated that (< more than a thousand n of his 
Majesty's subjects were "groaning as un- 
der a common burden of human rites and 
ceremonies,' ' from which they prayed to be 
relieved. 

The result was the Hampton Court Con- 
ference, an assembly of Puritan clergy sum- 
moned by the King to meet him at the 
palace of Hampton Court early in 1604, to 
discuss the grievances complained of. But 
the King was so displeased at the unreason- 
ableness of the requests, that on the third 
day he broke up the meeting abrupt^. No 
concessions of importance resulted ; but 
under the clause of the Act of Uniformity 
which gave to the Crown discretion in such 
matters, the King, with the advice of a 
Commission of Bishops and Privy Council- 
lors, caused a few slight changes to be 
made in the Prayer Book. 

79 



Zbc Stoxu of tbe ©rager ^ooft 



Of these changes, the one of by far the 
most importance was the addition to the 
Catechism of the latter part, respecting the 
Sacraments. 

The Puritan clergy had not used the 
Prayer Book faithfully during the reign of 
Elizabeth. There were many substitutes 
for it, as well in her reign as in the reigns 
of James and of Charles I. Of those sub- 
stitutes, one kind consisted in editions of 
the authorized Prayer Book from which 
various parts had been left out, and in 
which some verbal changes had been made. 
There is reason to suppose that the use of 
these books was generally connived at by 
the authorities. Other substitutes were 
various books formed on the model of Cal- 
vin's book in use at Geneva, and bearing 
more or less resemblance to Knox's Book 
of Common Order, which was used among 
the Presbyterians in Scotland. In 1584 an 
attempt had been made to get one of these 
books adopted by Parliament, in place of 
the Book of Common Prayer, the use to be 
enforced. 

This opposition to the Prayer Book con- 
tinued during the whole of the reign of 
80 



Bnglteb iPrager ffiooft from 1549 to 1892 

King James I, and that of his successor, 
Charles I. ; but it was nearly forty years from 
the time of the Hampton Court Conference 
before it became completely successful. 

Upon the meeting of the Long Parliament, 
on November third, 1640, measures were at 
first introduced looking towards a revision 
of the Prayer Book in the direction of Puri- 
tanism. In 1641 a committee was appointed 
for this purpose, and a great number of 
alterations were proposed. But when mo- 
tions were entertained in the House of Com- 
mons which showed that conciliation was 
not possible, the attempt for it was aban- 
doned. Very soon the use of the Prayer Book 
was prohibited altogether. There was a gen- 
eral overturn in Church affairs, and in meth- 
ods of public worship. Fonts were removed 
from the churches. There was a whole- 
sale destruction of Prayer Books, surplices 
and other vestments, organs, and other 
accessories to worship. Crosses and altars 
were removed from their places, and often 
were destroyed. Soon most of the Bishops 
were thrown into prison; and in 1642 the 
Puritans boasted that more than eight 
thousand of the clergy had been deprived of 
their positions, which had been filled by 
those of the opposite party. It was a way 
that they had in those days. 

81 



Zbc Stors of tbc prater :C3oofe 

On July first, 1643, the "Westminster 
Assembly of Divines ' ' was convened by the 
Parliament. Soon the "Solemn L,eague 
and Covenant ' ' was accepted from the Scot- 
tish Kirk. It was signed by the members 
of the House of Commons, in St. Margaret's 
Church, on September twenty-fifth, and it 
was afterwards sent to every parish in Eng- 
land and Wales, to be used as a test. 

Among other things, this document 
pledged those who signed it to substitute 
Presbyterianism for the Church of England, 
and the Scottish " Directory for Worship " 
in place of the Book of Common Prayer. 
This measure was not finally adopted by 
both Houses of Parliament till January 3, 
1645. The ordinance adopted by Parlia- 
ment repealed the 44 Act of Uniformity,' 1 
and enacted that the Book of Common 
Prayer should be 4 4 abolished, 1 ' and the 
Directory 4 4 established and observed in all 
the churches within this kingdom.' ' As 
the Act was not so generally obeyed, it was 
followed by another on August 23d, which 
prohibited the use of the Prayer Book 
either publicly or privately, and required 
all copies of it to be given up. Severe 
penalties were imposed. For the first of- 
fence there was a fine of ^5; for the second 
82 



Bnalteb K>ra£et $ook from 1549 to 1892 



offense, a fine of £10; and for the third 
offense, the penalty was a year's imprison- 
ment without bail or mainprize. Against 
those who refused to use the Directory there 
was a fine of £2 for each offense; and those 
who spoke or did anything against it, were 
to be fined from ^5 to ,£50, at the discretion 
of the magistrate. The Bishops and the 
Church of England party had often been 
severe, and had perhaps exposed themselves 
to retaliation; but the severity and the 
tyranny were not all on one side. 

We must be careful, in considering these 
times, not to confound questions of a civil 
and of a religious nature. We can believe 
in the divine character of the Episcopacy, 
without believing in the doctrine of the 
Divine Right of Kings as it was interpreted 
by Charles I. And we can be true to the 
Prayer Book, without ceasing to sympathize 
with Cromwell and the Puritans in their 
struggle for civil liberty. The best and 
noblest of God's creatures are often found 
amid very bad surroundings. The Son of 
God, although born in Bethlehem, was 
brought up at Nazareth. The Stuart kings 
had found the Church and its system ready 
to their hands, and it well might be that 
83 



TToe Storp of tbe ©ra^ec :fSooft 



they fain would use them to enslave the 
people. The people, on the other hand, 
loved liberty; and to such a degree that 
they came to hate those things which the 
kings had used, or could use, as instruments 
for tyrrany. And, so, for the Church and 
the Prayer Book the days were dark. 

V. 

But an end comes at last to all things 
evil; and upon the Restoration of Charles 
II. , in 1660, the use of the Prayer Book was 
restored. The Puritan party, however, 
w r ere still opposed to it, as of old; and if 
they must submit to its use, they were as 
desirous as ever that it be revised to meet 
their wishes. In order to satisfy their re- 
quests, or demands, the King, in accord- 
ance with the promise which he had made 
in his " Declaration from Breda,' 1 called 
together a large number of divines from 
both parties, to meet in conference at the 
Savoy Palace, or Hospital, in the Strand, 
London, to consider the questions relating 
to the Prayer Book and changes in the 
mode of public worship. This meeting is 
called ''The Savoy Conference, ' ' and lasted 
from April 15th to July 24th, 1661. 

The whole number assembled was forty- 

84 



Englfeb Prater ^SooT; from 1549 to 1892 

two, twenty-one from each party. On the 
Church side twelve were bishops, headed 
by Accepted Frewin, Archbishop of York. 
On the Presbyterian side there was one 
bishop, Edward Reynolds, Bishop of Nor- 
wich. Sanderson, Cosin and Warren, were 
perhaps the most prominent on the Church 
side, which included also Pearson, Sparrow 
and Heylin. On the Presbyterian side the 
most prominent w T ere Richard Baxter and 
Bishop Reynolds, together with Calamy and 
Light foot. 

To facilitate business, the desires and 
reasons of the Nonconformists were first 
given in writing, and answers to them were 
then given in writing by the Church party. 
Some of these requests, or "exceptions," 
were of great importance, one requiring 
that the whole responsive system of the 
Prayer Book should be abolished — the Lit- 
any to be made into one long prayer, and 
nothing to be said in divine service by any 
one except the minister, unless it should 
be "Amen." Another request required the 
abolition of Lent and Saints' Days. But 
most of the "exceptions" were of a very 
frivolous character. 

Richard Baxter, the author of "The 
Saints' Rest," offered a "Substitute for 
85 



XLbc Storg of tbe Ipraget JBooft 



the Prayer Book/' which he himself had 
composed — in two weeks' time. But this 
4 4 substitute ' ' was not much more satis- 
factory to the Dissenters than it was to the 
Church party. The Dissenters seemed to 
be united in nothing except opposition, so 
that any concessions that could have been 
granted, short of complete abolition of the 
Prayer Book system, would have been agree- 
able only to a few\ The concessions finally 
offered by the Church party were of very 
little importance. They are not w T orth re- 
cording here. 

It was generally acknowledged, however, 
that the Prayer Book could be improved by 
some slight changes; and, accordingly, after 
the Conference was ended, the work of re- 
vision was committed to the Convocations of 
the two Provinces of Canterbury and York. 
Committees w T ere appointed in the latter 
part of the year, which entered at once 
upon the work. Parliament also proceeded 
to frame an Act of Uniformity, to which 
the revised Prayer Book was to be attached. 

Great care was taken in the revision, and 
the Act w r as not through Parliament, so as 
to receive the Royal Assent, until May 19, 
1662. The Book was to go into use on 
86 



Ensltsb prater JSooft trom 1549 to IS92 



August 24th, ensuing, the Feast of Saint 
Bartholomew. Great care was taken in the 
arrangement of the text and in the printing. 
The changes made were quite numerous, 
about six hundred in all, but they were of 
a comparatively unimportant nature. 

A new Preface was made. The original 
preface followed, as a chapter " Concerning 
the Service of the Church.' ' The Psalter 
was hereafter to be bound up with the 
Prayer Book, just as the Ordinal had been 
previously. The extracts from the Bible, 
with the exception of the Psalter, the Ten 
Commandments, and some Sentences in the 
Communion Service, were taken generally 
from the version of 161 1 , that of King James. 
A Declaration in regard to kneeling, the sub- 
stance of what was called ' 1 the Black rubric ' ' 
in the book of 1552, was appended to the 
Communion office. The Prayers for the King 
and the Royal Family were for the first time 
placed in the Orders for Morning and Even- 
ing Prayer. 

Many additions were made. The Prayer 
for all Conditions of Men, and the General 
Thanksgiving, both of which had been re- 
cently composed, the former by Dr. Peter 
Gunning, afterwards Bishop of Ely, and the 
latter by Edward Reynolds, Bishop of Nor- 
87 



TLbe Storg of tbe prater JBooft 



wich, were now put into the Prayer Book 
for the first time, being placed among the 
Special Prayers and Thanksgivings. Two 
prayers for Ember Weeks were also added, 
a Thanksgiving for restoring public peace, 
and a Prayer for Parliament. The words 
11 rebellion " and 1 1 schism " were inserted in 
the Litany. 

One of the most interesting and most im- 
portant of the additions is to be found in the 
Communion Office, in the " Prayer for the 
whole state of Christ's Church militant here 
in earth,' ' where the words added may be 
regarded as a prayer for the righteous dead, 
and may be looked upon as a revised restora- 
tion of the words omitted from the first 
Prayer Book of King Edward : 4 1 And we 
also bless thy holy name for all thy servants 
departed this life in thy faith and fear; be- 
seeching thee to give us grace so to follow 
their good examples, that with them we may 
be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom.' 9 

Considerable changes were made in the 
Burial Service ; and several additions were 
made in the Form for the Visitation of the 
Sick. And in the Order for Matrimony, 
besides other minor changes, the rubric re- 
quiring the persons married to receive the 
Holy Communion on the day of their mar- 
88 



EtiQlteb prater $ooft from 1549 to 1892 



riage, was practically abolished. There was 
also added a Form of Prayer to be used at 
Sea, and an Order of Baptism for those of 
Riper Years, a form which had evidently 
been made necessary by the neglect of Infant 
Baptism during the late disturbances. 

None of the changes which had been 
made were radical; and they were important 
only as they tended to bring the book nearer 
to a perfect ideal. Some favor had been 
shown to the Puritans, but none to such of 
their objections as were foolish, trivial, or 
unchristian. 

This revised Prayer Book adopted in 1662, 
is almost exactly the same as the English 
Prayer Book of to-day. Under William III. 
an attempt was made to revise it in such a 
way as to dilute its theology and to modern- 
ize its language ; but, happily, it was unsuc- 
cessful. A few slight changes have been 
made since then, but they are not of general 
interest. 

Very many special services have been 
used in the Church of England, for a longer 
or shorter time, as circumstances have made 
them seem appropriate. Some of those in- 
troduced during the reign of Elizabeth have 

89 



Cbe Storg of tbc ©ra^er :fi3ooft 



been mentioned. Among other minor ones 
were the " Service in Commemoration of the 
Fire of London," "The Office used at the 
Healing,' ' and "The Form used at the 
Meeting of Convocation." 

There were four called "State Services/' 
which were of considerable importance, and 
which were bound up with the Prayer Book 
until the year 1859. These were the forms 
for the "Fifth of November," the "Thir- 
tieth of January," the "Twenty-ninth of 
May," and for the " Accession of the Sov- 
ereign." That for the Fifth of November 
was for the discovery of the Gunpowder 
Plot, adopted in 1606. That for the Thir- 
tieth of January was a service of Humilia- 
tion for the Execution of Charles I. , and was 
adopted in 1661. It was revised under 
James II., in 1685. That for the Twenty- 
ninth of May was also adopted in 1661, and 
was in celebration of the Birthday of Charles 
II., and of his Restoration. That for the 
Accession of a Sovereign is a revision of the 
one first used in honor of the Accession of 
Queen Elizabeth. This form is still used, 
but without legal authority. 

Many other forms for special days have 
of course been used, which have never been 
incorporated in the Prayer Book, such as 
90 



BnsUsb Prater $ooft from 1549 to 1892 



were the Services used at the Jubilee Cele- 
bration of Queen Victoria. 

A most interesting form is one set forth to 
be used on account of the revolted colonies 
during the American Revolution. It in- 
cluded Prayers for the Church and King- 
dom, for Unity, for Enemies; and, with 
these, special Collects were to be used for 
the success of the British Arms. It is 
pleasant to know that all of these prayers 
were of a character which does great credit 
to the goodness of the Church of England, 
and to the kindheartedness of the English 
people. 

VI. 

A book which had been of considerable 
influence in the revision of 1662, w T as the 
so-called Scottish Prayer Book of 1637. 
This book was a revision of the Book of 
James L, or of Elizabeth, made by Scottish 
Bishops, under the supervision of Arch- 
bishop Laud. Previous to its completion, 
the English Book had been used a very 
little in Scotland, and only a very little. 
This was the Book the use of which Charles 
I. attempted to enforce in Scotland. It 
was, of course, in the English language, 
and was specially prepared for use in Scot- 
9i 



Cbe Storg of tbc prater ;!Booft 



land. The chief reason for its preparation 
was that the acknowledged faults of the 
Book used in England might be corrected 
before its use was enforced in Scotland, 
because of the difficulty of making a revision 
after the Book had once been introduced. 
The design was " to make it as perfect as 
possible.' 1 The preparation of it occupied 
several years. 

The attempt to enforce its use, however, 
met with no success. The clergy were as- 
sailed with stones and other missiles, even 
when conducting services in the Cathedral, 
and the Book never came into use. But, in 
spite of this rejection, it is generally ac- 
knowledged to have been an excellent book, 
which was superior to the English one in 
many respects, especially in the Communion 
Office. It has had a great influence upon 
all the other Prayer Books in the English 
language which have been made since its 
issue, and for that reason the labor expended 
upon it was not in vain. 

This influence, first seen in the revision 
of 1662, appeared afterwards in various edi- 
tions of the Pra} r er Book for use in Scotland, 
prepared by the " non-juring Bishops " who 
had gone there from England — and their 
successors. The best of these books, per- 
92 



Bn^lteb ©rager JBooft from 1549 to 1892 



haps, which was probably based upon the 
First Book of King Edward, was accepted 
for general use in 1764. It is of especial 
interest to us from the fact that through the 
exertions of these Scottish successors of the 
non-juring Bishops, by means of their in- 
fluence with Bishop Seabury, the first 
American Bishop, who was consecrated by 
them, it had a very marked influence in the 
preparation of our American Prayer Book. 

VII. 

In the Irish Church, the English Prayer 
Book of 1662, with some changes and 
additions, was used until after the Dis- 
establishment of the Irish Church, in 1870. 
Then revision seemed to be necessary ; but 
it was not till 1877, a ft er an exciting con- 
troversy of six years, that the revision was 
accomplished, and the new book, * 4 Accord- 
ing to the Use of the Church of Ireland/' 
was published. It differs very much from 
the Book of the Church of England, and is 
even more decidedly anti- Roman in its ten- 
dency. It gets this character from the fact 
that Romanism is all about it, on every side, 
its active enemy. While it is undoubtedly 
better for Ireland than the English Book, 
and while it seems to be essentially superior 
93 



XLbc 5tor£ of t&e prater JKooft 



to it in many important respects, it is pos- 
sible that on the whole it is not an im- 
provement. 

VIII. 

For the sake of completeness, it may be 
well, at this point, to speak of the editions 
of the Prayer Book which have been used 
at various times, and in various places, by 
religious bodies which have not been in 
communion with the Church of England. 

The unauthorized Books which were often 
used by the Puritans in the Church of Eng- 
land have been already spoken of. Besides 
these there have been several of a heretical 
nature. Perhaps the earliest of this kind 
was an Arianized Prayer Book, prepared in 
the early part of the eighteenth century by 
Dr. Samuel Clarke, who was at one time 
Chaplain to Queen Anne. This was fol- 
lowed, after many years, b}' the first Ameri- 
can liturgy, which is known as the " King's 
Chapel Prayer Book," and was first pub- 
lished in Boston, in 1785, " for the use of the 
First Episcopal Church in Boston.' 9 It was 
prepared by the Rev. Mr. Lindsey, the 
rector of the church; and it has been spoken 
of as ' 1 The English Prayer Book, Arianized 
by Clarke, Americanized and Socinianized 
94 



Bnalfsb Eraser $ooft from t549 to 1892 



by Lindsey." It was rightly denounced as 
heretical, and it never has had any exten- 
tensive influence. Other similar books have 
been published, one at Dunkirk in 1791, one 
at Bristol in 1830, and others at various 
times, which have been used with greater or 
less frequency by Unitarian congregations. 

Very different from these is the Irvingite 
Prayer Book, prepared for and used by the 
followers of Edward Irving, ' * members of 
the Catholic and Apostolic Church.' ' 

The Methodist " Book of Discipline, 1 9 
also, is based upon the English Prayer Book; 
but, as is well known, it is rarely used as a 
Prayer Book except upon special occasions, 
and, even then, more after the manner of 
a " Directory of Public Worship." 

There have been many other Protestant 
Books of Prayer and Books of Worship, of 
greater or less pretension ; but the most of 
them have borne only the most remote rela- 
tionship to the Prayer Book of the Church 
of England. One of these, however, lately 
published (1898) for use in the Churches of 
the Presbyterian Order, is a book of marked 
excellence, especially in the literary and 
spiritual character of its prayers. 

And now let us return, for only a few 
95 



<Xbe Story of tbe ©rager ffiooft 

brief statements, to the present authorized 
Prayer Book of the Church of England. In 
1872 an important change in the law was 
made, in the direction of flexibility in use. 
An amendment to the Act of Uniformity 
was passed through Parliament, and ap- 
proved by the Queen, which allowed the use 
of shortened Forms of Morning and of Even- 
ing Prayer, according to a schedule annexed 
to the Act ; also the use of special services 
for special occasions, and the use of an ad- 
ditional Form of Service on Sundays and 
Holy Days. It also provided that the Orders 
for Morning Prayer, the Litany, and the 
Holy Communion, might be used as separate 
services; and it allowed the preaching a 
sermon without previous service, on the con- 
dition " that such sermon or lecture be pre- 
ceded by any service authorized by this Act, 
or by the Bidding Prayer, or by a Collect 
taken from the Book of Common Prayer, 
with or without the Lord's Prayer.' ' 

This Act, as is so often the case with such 
legislation, merely provided addititional 
legal sanction, if such should be required, 
for certain practices which had already be- 
come more or less prevalent ; but, at the 
same time, it had a natural tendency to 
make an acceptable Bock even more accept- 
96 



Enslteb ©rager JBccft trcm 1549 to 1892 



able, in many quarters, than it had been be- 
fore. It was a long step, without doubt, in 
the right direction ; for, really, such a Book 
needs no laws to make men love it. 

Through all its career it has been a Book 
of Iyife, second only to the Bible, and most 
men have been attracted by it, if they have 
once felt its power. It has been much used, 
the world over, wherever Englishmen have 
gone. It has been widely used in missions 
to heathen lands; and for this purpose it has 
been translated into about three-score differ- 
ent languages. Its influence, everywhere, 
has been equalled only by its excellence. 
97 



PART III. 
THE AMERICAN PRAYER BOOK. 



PART III— THE AMERICAN PRAYER 
BOOK. 



/. 1789. 

We have now come to the American 
Prayer Book, that revision of the Book of 
1662, in which we, as loyal Americans, are 
most interested. 

Of course, the Book of 1662 was the one 
used in the Colonies. During the Revolu- 
tion such changes were made in use, by 
various clergymen, as the changed condi- 
tions seemed to require. The prayers for 
the King and for the Royal Family w^ere 
omitted by the patriots, and prayers for the 
Congress and for the country were generally 
substituted in their stead. But each clergy- 
man did as seemed best to himself, or as 
seemed to be required by those to whom he 
ministered. There was no general agree- 
ment, just as there was no paramount au- 
thority. Many clergymen were loyal to the 
Crown, and continued to use the full Eng- 
lish Service in spite of all obstacles and all 
dangers. This was especially the case 
among the clergy of New England, where 
101 



{Toe American prater $oofe 

the Church was more generally looked upon 
as a distinctively British institution. Others 
considered themselves bound to be true to 
the worship of the Church of England, on 
account of being in the service and pay of 
the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel. Some of these royalist clergymen left 
the country. Others remained, hoping for 
better times. In many cases, even where 
the clergymen remained, public worship 
was almost entirely suspended. But, after 
all these allowances have been made, it 
must be said that the majority of those 
clergy who were of American birth were 
patriots rather than royalists, just as was 
the case with their parishioners. They 
could be true to their Church and true to 
their country at the same time. They con- 
sidered the Church to be Catholic, and not 
a mere tool of the British Crown. And so 
they generally kept to their work, where 
circumstances did not prevent, making such 
changes in the public worship as I have in- 
dicated. 

But at length the War came to an end, 
and the country was independent. It was 
evident either that the Church in America 
must cease to exist on its Apostolic founda- 
tion, or that measures must immediately be 
102 



XLbc 5tor£ of tbe sprayer $ooft 



taken to complete its organization, and to 
legalize the necessary changes in public 
worship. 

The first important step in this direction 
was taken by the Diocese of Connecticut, or 
rather by the clergy in the State of Con- 
necticut, in sending the Rev. Samuel Sea- 
bury to England to obtain consecration to 
the Episcopate. But the laws in England 
were such as to prohibit the Bishops from 
consecrating without the Oath of Allegiance 
to the British Crown, which was of course 
out of the question in this case. Other ob- 
jections were also made. But at length 
Seabury obtained what he wanted from the 
Scottish Bishops, the successors of the non- 
juring Bishops of James II.; and on Novem- 
ber 14, 1784, he was consecrated at Aber- 
deen, Scotland, by Bishop Robert Kilgour, 
of Aberdeen, the Primus, assisted by Arthur 
Petrie, the Bishop of Px>ss and Moray, and 
John Skinner, the Coadjutor-Bishop of 
Aberdeen. 

At about this time, the fall of 1784, an 
informal Convention of the Church in Amer- 
ica was held in New York, in which eight 
states were represented. At this Convention 
it was recommended as a 1 1 fundamental 
principle" of organization for the "Episco- 
103 



pal Church of the United States of Amer- 
ica/' — 1 1 That the said Church shall main- 
tain the doctrines of the Gospel as now held 
by the Church of England, and shall adhere 
to the Liturgy of the said Church as far as 
shall be consistent with the American Revo- 
lution and the Constitutions of the respective 
states." 

The first regular General Convention of 
this Church was held in the following year, 
meeting at Philadelphia in September, 1785. 
Very soon after the assembling of this Con- 
vention, a Committee was appointed to make 
such changes in the Liturgy as were implied 
by the " fundamental principle " adopted in 
1784, and also to consider the question of 
" such further alterations in the Liturgy as 
it may be advisable for this Convention to 
recommend to the consideration of the 
Church here represented.' ' 

The idea had gradually come to the front 
that it was a proper time to make a thorough 
revision of the Prayer Book. The Com- 
mittee consisted of seven clergymen and 
seven laymen. The clergymen were Sam- 
uel Provoost, Abraham Beach, William 
White, Charles Henry Wharton, William 
Smith, David Griffith, and Henry Purcell. 
The laymen were James Duane, Patrick 
104 



XLbc Story of tbc ©rager nsoofc 



Dennis, Richard Peters, James Sykes, 
Thomas Craddock, John Page, and Jacob 
Read. As a result of their labors, the 
changes rendered necessary by the War were 
1 1 approved and ratified ' 1 by the Conven- 
tion. Many other changes also were " pro- 
posed and recommended 81 for adoption at a 
subsequent Convention. 

These latter changes were mainly the work 
of the Rev. Dr. William Smith, Bishop-elect 
of Maryland. To him, in connection with 
the Rev. Dr. White, of Pennsylvania, and 
the Rev. Dr. Wharton, of Delaware, the 
duty was assigned of preparing and publish- 
ing an edition of the Prayer Book thus re- 
vised. They were empowered to make 1 * ver- 
bal and grammatical corrections/ ' to prepare 
a Preface and a Calendar of Proper Lessons, 
and to publish such of the ' c reading and 
singing psalms" as they should think 
proper. The Book thus prepared by them, 
and published at Philadelphia in the spring 
of 1786, has always been known as "The 
Proposed Book." 

In the meantime, the first American Lit- 
urgy, known as " the King's Chapel Prayer 
Book," which has been spoken of previ- 
ously, had been published at Boston in 
1785. King's Chapel was the oldest Epis- 
105 



Zbc Bmerican ©rager JBoofc 



copal church in Boston. Its congregations 
had been made up largely from the govern- 
ment officials and their families, and others 
who were loyal to the British Crown. After 
these had left the country, the church fell 
into the hands of Unitarians. The Prayer 
Book published by them had been revised 
in such a way as to leave out the doctrine 
of the Trinity. This Prayer Book was con- 
demned by the Church at large. The Bish- 
ops refused to ordain the minister whom they 
had selected, Mr. Freeman; and from that 
time King's Chapel ceased to be in the com- 
munion of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

In the same year in which the ' 1 Proposed 
Book" was published, 1786, Bishop Sea- 
bury, also, in accordance with an agree- 
ment which he had made with the Bishops 
of the Scottish Church at the time of his 
consecration, published an edition of the 
Scottish Communion Office, and recom- 
mended its use to the churches in Connecti- 
cut. Bishop Seabury was not very favorable 
to many of the changes in the ''Proposed 
Book." He thought that revision ought to 
be a work of time and great deliberation. 

I will not give a particular description of 
the 1 1 Proposed Book. ' ' Many of its changes 
were incorporated in the revision w T hich 
io6 



XLbc Store of tbc Jprager :fi3ooft 



was finally accepted. Of those which were 
not finally adopted, some were quite sweep- 
ing in their nature. Especially so was the 
omission both of the Athanasian Creed and 
also of the Nicene Creed, and of the clause 
in the Apostles' Creed concerning the De- 
scent into Hell. 

It was principally on account of these 
omissions that the English Bishops refused 
consecration to William White and Samuel 
Provoost, who had been elected Bishops of 
Pennsylvania and of New York, respect- 
ively, and whose consecration had been 
requested of them. This objection was re- 
moved in the General Convention of 1786, 
b}^ the restoration of the clause omitted 
from the Apostles' Creed, and the insertion 
of the Nicene Creed after the Apostles' 
Creed, as an alternative. The legal objec- 
tions to their consecration were also removed 
by Parliament; and soon afterwards, on 
February 4th, 1787, Bishops White and 
Provoost were consecrated at Eambeth Pal- 
ace, by the two Archbishops and the Bishops 
of Bath and Wells and of Peterborough. 

It seemed for a time as if schism might 
result from the friction which ensued be- 
tween the two lines of Episcopal Succession. 
There was especial jealousy between Bishop 
107 



XTbe Bmerfcan prater 3Boofc 



Seabury and Bishop Provoost, from the fact 
that they differed very much in theological 
tenets, and from the further fact that, while 
Bishop Provoost had been an ardent patriot, 
Bishop Seabury had been a staunch Tory, 
and, moreover, was still receiving a pension 
as a retired Chaplain of the British Army. 
But all these differences were at length 
healed before serious injury had resulted, 
through mutual forbearance and charity, and 
largely through the wise and Christian 
mediation of Bishop White. 

In the meantime, the " Proposed Book" 
had not been accepted in all the States; and 
its use was gradually discontinued every- 
where, as not being generally acceptable. 

In the General Convention of 1789, after 
a satisfactory organization had been effected, 
the important work on hand was the settling 
of the question in regard to a Liturgy. 
The New England delegates proposed that 
the English Book should be taken as " the 
ground of the proceedings held, without 
any reference to that set out and proposed 
in 1785." 

Others advocated that they should pro- 
ceed * 1 without any reference to any exist- 
ing book, although with liberty to take 

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from any whatever the Convention should 
think fit." 

A general agreement was arrived at, 
however, in which both parties seemed to 
have their way, and to be satisfied. Differ- 
ent committees were appointed for different 
parts of the Book, — " to prepare a Morning 
and Evening Prayer," "to prepare a Lit- 
any," "to prepare a Communion Service," 
etc. The phrase "to prepare" was used, 
instead of "to alter," as had been the 
phrase in 1785; but there was a general 
disposition not to vary from the English 
Book without good reason. "The Pro- 
posed Book" had much influence. The 
Scottish Book had its share, as well as the 
Book used in Ireland. And one cannot help 
believing that the "requests" formulated 
by the Puritans at the Savoy Conference, 
and urged at other times, were at last given 
the consideration which they deserved, and 
which they perhaps had not received in 1662. 

The most important of the differences 
from the English Book were as follows: — 
The Athanasian Creed was entirely omitted. 
The Nicene Creed was to be used as an 
alternative for the Apostles' Creed, both in 
Morning and Evening Prayer and in the 
Communion Office. It will be noted that 
109 



XLbc Bmedcan ©ra^er JSooh 



the English Book has the Apostles' Creed 
in Morning and Evening Prayer, and the 
Nicene Creed in the Communion Office; 
and that it requires the use of the Athan- 
asian Creed, instead of the Apostles' Creed, 
at Morning Prayer, on thirteen Feast Days. 
In the Apostles' Creed, an alternative 
phrase was allowed instead of the clause 
"He descended into hell," just as is the 
case in our Prayer Books at present. As to 
the chants, in Morning Prayer the Venite 
was slightly changed; the last verse* was 
omitted from the Benedicite ; and the Bene- 
dictus was very much shortened, and was 
placed after the Jubilate. In Evening 
Prayer the Magnificat was omitted after the 
First Lesson, and the Bonum est Confiteri 
was inserted; after the Second Lesson the 
Nunc Dimittis was omitted, and the Bene- 
die, Anima Mea was inserted. 

In Morning and Evening Prayer also 
certain versicles were omitted; and the 
" Prayer for all conditions of men" and the 
"General Thanksgiving," taken from the 
"Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several 
occasions" in the English Book, were in- 

* 11 O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless ye the 
Lord; praise Him, and magnify Him forever." 

HO 



Zbc StorB ot tbe prater $oofc 



serted in the same place which they now 
occupy. "A Prayer for the President of 
the United States and all in Civil Author- 
ity " was also inserted after the Third Col- 
lect, to be used at every Morning or Even- 
ing Service. This, of course, was used 
instead of the Prayers for the King and the 
Royal Family in the English Book. A 
Prayer for Congress, to be used during the 
sessions of that body, was put in the place 
of the c< Prayer for the High Court of Parlia- 
ment, 1 1 on the model of which it was framed. 

The title " Absolution/ ' in Morning and 
Evening Prayer, was changed to " Declara- 
tion of Absolution,' ' and an alternative form 
for such declaration was inserted, the same 
as that which is found in the Communion 
Office. In the Communion Office also, in 
the rubric before the form for Absolution, 
the words * * shall say " are used, instead of 
the words 4 * shall pronounce this Absolu- 
tion.' ' The Absolution in the Visitation of 
the Sick was omitted. 

A considerable omission was for the first 
time allowed in the Litany. And in the 
Communion Office the omission of the 
Lord's Prayer at the beginning was al- 
lowed, when it had been said immediately 
before in Morning Prayer. The Creed also 
in 



Zbc Bmedcan ©rager JSool; 



could be omitted if it had been said imme- 
diately before. None of these omissions 
are allowed in the English Book, which 
sometimes makes their service seem tedious 
to Americans. The use of the " Gloria in 
Excelsis" after the Communion, which was 
required in the English Book, was also 
made optional. 

Another very important change in the 
Communion Office has already been alluded 
to as having been brought about by Bishop 
Seabury, under the influence of the Scottish 
Bishops. It consisted in the restoration of 
the Prayers of Oblation and Invocation to 
their ancient place, immediately after the 
Prayer of Consecration, the place which 
they occupied in the Scottish Prayer Book. 
These had been omitted from the English 
Book since 1552, except that a part of the 
Prayer of Oblation, the greater part of it, 
was permitted to be used after the Com- 
munion, instead of before it; although even 
then the Prayer of Thanksgiving might be 
substituted for it. The Prayer of Thanks- 
giving was also required to be used, just as in 
the ancient form and in the Scottish. These 
changes and restorations are generally ac- 
knowledged to be a great improvement. 

Other changes also were for the better, 
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Gbe Stovy of tbc ipra^er $oofc 



and some of them were very significant. 
The words ' ' here in earth ' 1 were omitted 
from the title of the Prayer ' ' for the whole 
state of Christ's Church militant.' ' The 
versicle, 1 ' Glory be to thee, O Lord," was 
inserted before the reading of the Gospel. 
In the Catechism, the words "verily and 
indeed taken," were changed to "spiritually 
taken." In the Baptismal Offices, the 
omission of the sign of the Cross was 
allowed. It was provided also that parents 
may be admitted as sponsors. 

"The Form of Solemnization of Matri- 
mony" was very much changed. The 
rubrics at the beginning were changed in 
such a way that the publishing of the Banns 
was not required, but "every minister" 
was left to the direction of the different laws 
"in the several states," "in everything 
that regards the civil contract between the 
parties." This, of course, was a change 
" incessitated by the Revolution." In the 
service itself, besides small verbal changes 
and other slight omissions, "the causes for 
which Matrimony was ordained,"* were 

* First, It was ordained for the procreation of 
children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture 
of the Lord, and to the praise of His holy Name. 

Secondly, It was ordained as a remedy against 

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omitted in the Exhortation, and the whole 
of that part of the service after the Bless- 
ing, the benedicatory part of the English 
Service, which takes place at "the Lord's 
table/ 9 was omitted, together with the 
final rubric in regard to the reception of the 
Holy Communion "at the time of their 
marriage or at the first opportunity after 
their marriage.* 9 One sometimes wonders 
if all these omissions were really advisable. 
Plain speaking is often the best. And yet 
marriage ought not to be discouraged; and 
the greatest danger is not that people enter 
into marriage "wantonly, to satisfy men's 
carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts 
that have no understanding.' 9 

The Office of " Commination, or denounc- 
ing of God's anger and judgments against 
sinners," to be used on Ash Wednesday 
and at other times, was entirely omitted; 
and of course all the English State Services 
were omitted. 

sin, and to avoid fornication; that such persons as 
have not the gift of continency might marry, and 
keep themselves undefiled members of Christ's 
body. 

Thirdly, It was ordained for the mutual society, 
help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of 
the other, both in prosperity and adversity. 
114 



£be Storg of tbe prager asooft 

Ten Selections of Psalms were provided, 
any one of which could be used in place of 
the regular psalms appointed for the day. 

In place of the various Acts of Uni- 
formity, which are not always fully printed 
in the English Prayer Books at the present 
time, but are always understood to be in 
force for the clergy of the Church of Eng- 
land, there was published "The Ratifica- 
tion of the Book of Common Prayer. 
The place of the English Preface was filled 
with a new Preface by the revisers. The 
chapter in the English Book "Concerning 
the Service of the Church " was omitted, 
and that "Concerning Ceremonies,' ' and 
also the "Table of Kindred and Affinity." 

Several new forms were adopted. "A 
Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Al- 
mighty God, for the fruits of the earth and 
all the other blessings of his merciful 
Providence; to be used yearly on the first 
Thursday in November, or on such other 
day as shall be appointed by the Civil 
Authority/ ' was adopted; and also Forms 
of Morning and of Evening Prayer to be 
used in Families; and a Form of Prayer for 
the visitation of prisoners. This latter 
form was similar to the one adopted in 171 1 
for the Prayer Book in Ireland, but it was 
115 



without the direct Absolution. The inten- 
tion is, both here and in the Visitation of 
the Sick, that the Absolution shall be de- 
clared when the Holy Communion is ad- 
ministered. 

There were also several important changes 
in the rubrics. The " Ornaments Rubric M 
of the English Book was omitted. This 
rubric had long before become a dead letter 
in England, although it is much quoted in 
these days, and has often been appealed to 
both in this country and in England since 
the Oxford Revival. But this omission 
really leaves the Church in America log- 
ically without any other law than custom 
in regard to the use of clerical vestments, 
and in regard to the adornment of chancels 
and the general arrangement of chancels 
and of chancel furniture. The use of an 
Altar or Communion Table is assumed; but 
the use of a surplice even, by the minister, 
as an appropriate vestment, is not required 
by rubric, nor by any other law of the 
Church except the law of custom and of 
fitness. 

Other rubrics omitted from the English 
Book were as follows: the one which re- 
quires persons who wish to receive the 
Communion to give their names to the 
116 



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Curate 11 at least some time the day before;' ' 
those in regard to a requisite number to 
communicate with the priest; the one in 
regard to the frequency of communicating; 
the one in regard to the kind of bread to be 
used; and the one in regard to the means of 
providing the bread and wine; the one also 
in regard to the disposition to be made of 
the bread and wine that are left, except 
that the regulation of the English Book is 
retained which requires that Consecrated 
Bread and Wine that are left after Com- 
munion, are not to be carried out of the 
church, but are to be consumed by the 
Minister and the other communicants, im- 
mediately after the Blessing. The one also 
in regard to the disposition to be made of 
the Offerings was omitted; and the one at 
the end of the Communion Office, formerly 
called "the Black Rubric,' ' which gives 
explanations in regard to kneeling at the 
reception of the Elements. 

Another rubric has been changed, also, 
in such a way as to allow the Ante- Com- 
munion Service to be said, not merely on 
the north side of the Table, according to 
the English Book, but either "at the right 
side of the Table, or where Morning and 
Evening Prayer are appointed to be said." 
117 



XLbc amerlcan ffra^er ffiooTi 



Besides these, there were also quite a num- 
ber of other slight changes in the rubrics, 
in the various offices, as well as many 
slight verbal changes; but they are of com- 
paratively little interest. 

We have seen, however, that very many 
quite important but not serious changes 
were made in this revision, besides these 
which were necessitated by the Revolution. 

A few of the alterations were not ar- 
ranged satisfactorily until 1792. In this 
latter year, also, the Ordinal was adopted, 
without essential change except that alter- 
native words were inserted, to be used by 
the Bishops at the ordination of Priests. 

But while the Ordinal was not changed 
in substance, it was considerably changed 
in form and in the arrangement of its differ- 
ent parts. As it appears in the English 
Book it is much more compact, and there is 
much less repetition. In the American 
Book the L,itany and Suffrages are printed 
separately, and also the Order for the Holy 
Communion. The intent may have been to 
give clearness to the different parts of the 
services, making them more easy to follow; 
but it is doubtful whether the end aimed at 
has been attained. In regard to the Litany 
118 



XLbc &toxy of tbe ©ra^er SooJi 



the separate printing may not make so 
much difference, except that the change 
seems to be needless; but the separate print- 
ing of the Order for the Holy Communion 
adds considerably to the bulk of the book, 
and it does not do any good except to keep 
one wondering why such repetition was 
deemed necessary, and to draw attention to 
the single word <4 Bishop. " 

In regard to the " Articles of Religion," 
without a settlement of which the work 
could not be called complete, there was 
considerable trouble and dela} r . The ques- 
tion was postponed from one Convention to 
another, until in 1799 seventeen Articles 
were reported by the Committee on that 
subject in the House of Deputies, and w r ere 
referred by them to the consideration of the 
next Convention. It seemed impossible to 
agree upon any serious change in the 
Articles; and the result was that the next 
Convention, in 1801, adopted the Articles 
of the Church of England, with only neces- 
sary and trifling changes. There was this 
important difference, however, — that the 
clergy were not required to subscribe to the 
Articles, as is the case in England. But 
this difference is not so very important after 
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Gbe Bmetican prater 33ooft 



all; for, by the canons of the Church, no one 
can be ordained to its ministry until he has 
promised to conform to the 4 'doctrines and 
worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the United States of America;' 1 and this 
provision amounts to very much the same 
thing, practically, as subscription to the 
Articles of Religion set forth by the Church. 

In 1799 a "Form of Consecration of a 
Church or Chapel' ' was adopted. In 1804 
44 An Office of Induction of Ministers into 
Parishes or Churches" was adopted, the 
title of which was changed in 1808, by sub- 
stituting 4 ' Institution 1 9 for 44 Induction.' 1 
Its use was not obligatory. 

In general arrangement the American 
Book did not differ very much from its 
prototype. The Articles of Religion, how- 
ever, were placed immediately after the 
Psalter. Then came the Ordinal; after that 
was placed the Form of Consecration of a 
Church or Chapel; and then came the Office 
of Institution. 

Besides these various offices it was cus- 
tomary to bind up with the Prayer Books 
certain selections of the Psalms of David in 
120 



Zbc 5tor£ of tbe ©rager JBooft 



metre, after the manner of the version by 
Tate and Brady in the English Prayer 
Book, and also certain 14 Hymns to be used 
in Public Worship/ ' Additional hymns 
adopted as late as 1865 were also bound up 
with the Prayer Book. But in 1874 a Re- 
vised Hymnal was adopted which was pub- 
lished separately from the Prayer Book, and 
from that time the publication of hymns 
and metrical psalms with the Prayer Book 
was discontinued. A revision of this sep- 
arate Hymnal was set forth in 1892, at the 
same time with the last revision of the 
Prayer Book. 

The Prayer Book which was substantially 
completed in 1789, and which was really 
completed in the years following, as has 
been narrated, proved to be eminently satis- 
factory. Almost every change had been 
for the better. We may well feel that the 
Holy Spirit had indeed been present, to 
direct, to sanctify, to govern. 

Very important changes had been made, 
so that a very different book had been pro- 
duced; and, yet, it was without doubt the 
same book, as the son may be the living 
image of his sire. For, in spite of all the 
differences, it could certainly be said with 
121 



Zbe Bmertcan ©rager ^cok 

truth, as it often has been said, and as is 
universally acknowledged to be the fact, 
that, in adopting the Prayer Book of 1789, 
the Churchmen of America succeeded in 
their intention and endeavor, stated when 
the revision was first entered upon, and 
afterwards restated in the Preface to the 
Book, and that they did not 4 'depart from 
the Church of England in any essential 
point of doctrine, discipline, or worship, or 
further than local circumstances ' ' required. 
122 



77. iS?2. 

The Prayer Book thus completed, the 
Prayer Book which so many American 
Churchmen, the fathers and mothers, and 
the grandfathers and the grandmothers, 
have loved so well, was not altered in any 
important particular until the late revision, 
which was fairly entered upon in 1883, and 
was completed in 1892, and which most 
Church people of the present day know 
something about. 

In 1826, indeed, the House of Bishops 
recommended certain changes, principally 
with the idea of shortening the services, so 
as to take away any apparent reason for 
neglecting to read the Ante-Communion 
part of the Communion office on Sunday 
forenoons. But on further consideration it 
was deemed safer to let the Book remain as 
it was. 

In 1853 also, a Memorial was presented 
to the House of Bishops, signed by Dr. 
Muhlenberg and others, the intent of which 
was to make the Church more Catholic in 
the matter of conferring Holy Orders, and 
to eventually unite all Protestant bodies in 
123 



the land in the Communion of the Holy 
Catholic Church in the United States of 
America, and to allow greater liberty, also, 
in the use of the Prayer Book and of its 
various services. No immediate result 
came from this Memorial, except that in 
1856 a Declaration was made by the House 
of Bishops, to the effect that the Morning 
Prayer, the Iyitany, and the Communion 
Service were distinct services; that on 
special occasions the clergy might use such 
parts of the Prayer Book, and such lessons 
of Scripture, as they judged would tend 
most to edification; and that the several 
Bishops might provide special services for 
peculiar cases. 

This was not legislation; but it almost 
had the effect of legislation, because no 
serious objection was made to it. It was 
an indication, also, that continued agitation 
might bring about all that the Memorialists 
desired. This proved to be the fact so far 
as the use of the Prayer Book was con- 
cerned, for all that the most of them could 
have desired in that matter was obtained in 
the Revision of 1892. 

But this result was not brought about at 
once. In 1868, the Bishops, in reply to 
124 



Gbe Storg ot tbe ©ra^er ^Soofi 



another memorial asking for greater lati- 
tude in the use of the Prayer Book, voted 
unanimously that such latitude as was 
asked could not be allowed with safety, or 
with proper regard to the rights of the con- 
gregations. 

The matter of shortened services was 
discussed again in 1877,* however, and led 
to a proposal in the next General Conven- 
tion, in 1880, that the " Ratification 1 ' of 
the Prayer Book should be so amended 

* Dr. Wm. R. Huntington introduced the follow- 
ing resolution in the House of Deputies: 

" Resolvedy The House of Bishops concurring, 
that a joint committee, to consist of seven Bishops, 
seven presbyters, and seven laymen, be chosen, to 
consider and report to the next Convention what 
changes, if any, are needed in the rubrics in the 
Book of Common Prayer, in order to remove exist- 
ing differences of interpretation, to amend the 
Lectionary, and to provide, by abbreviation or 
otherwise, for the better adaptation of the Services 
of the Church to the wants of all sorts and condi- 
tions of men." 

This resolution was referred to the Committee 
on the Prayer Book, of which Dr. K. E. Beardsley, 
of Connecticut, was Chairman. This Committee 
reported to the same Convention, and recom- 
mended that it be discharged from further con- 
sideration of the subject. The recommendation 
was adopted. 

125 



tlbe American prater ffiooft 

as to give the liberty desired. But this 
proposal was fortunately defeated in the 
Convention of 1883. In this Convention, 
of 1883, something was granted in the direc- 
tion of liberty by the adoption of three 
rules in regard to the use of the Lessons, 
which had the general effect of legalizing 
some of the points set forth in the Declara- 
tion made by the House of Bishops in 1856. 

At this point I wish to make a few state- 
ments in regard to the Iyectionary. The 
practice of reading portions of Holy Scrip- 
ture in the public worship of the Christian 
Church was inherited from the synagogue 
worship, in a way very similar to that in 
which Christian prayer and Christian praise 
were inherited from that. It is not known 
how early fixed lectionaries came into use, 
but some traces of appointed lessons are 
found in writers of the Fourth Century, 
and their use as early as the Fifth Century 
is not questioned. A lectionary is still 
extant which is more than 1200 years old. 

During the middle ages it was the custom 
in the monasteries to read the whole Bible 
through once in every year, including the 
Apocryphal books; and, besides this, to 
read very freely indeed from the traditional 
126 



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and often grotesque Lives of the Saints. 
Perhaps I ought to say, rather, that the 
lectionaries provided all this reading; be- 
cause it is undoubtedly true that in most 
monasteries, for a long time preceding the 
Reformation, it was the custom to read 
only a part of the lessons assigned, in many 
cases only a very small part, a few verses. 

Of course the Reformation changed all 
this. The Lives of the Saints were dropped 
out of the Lection ary altogether, and only 
a few selections were retained from the 
Apocryphal books, which latter the Church 
of England declared were not inspired, but 
were worthy to be held in respect and to be 
used to a limited extent, 1 1 for example of 
life and instruction of manners/ ' 

With the Prayer Book of 1549 a lection- 
ary was adopted of such a character that 
the Old Testament should be read through 
once every year, except the more obscure 
parts of it, and the New Testament three 
times every year, except the Apocalypse, — 
which was omitted because of the difficulty 
of comprehending it. A system of Proper 
Lessons was provided also for the Feasts 
and Holy Days, to take the place of a part 
of the regular lessons for those days in the 
Calendar, — generally of the first lessons at 
Morning Prayer, and of some of the others. 
127 



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In Elizabeth's Prayer Book much the 
same arrangement was retained in the Cal- 
endar; and Proper Lessons were also pro- 
vided for the Sundays, as well as for other 
Holy Days, — the first lessons at both Morn- 
ing and Evening Prayer, and some of the 
others, — in very much the same way as in 
the preceding book, except that they were 
put in a different place. In the Prayer 
Book of 1549 they had been given in con- 
nection with the Introits, Collects, Epistles, 
and Gospels, while in Elizabeth's Prayer 
Book they were placed in a table by them- 
selves. 

This arrangement, for the Calendar and 
all, was changed but very little for the 
Prayer Book of 1662, and it was retained in 
use in the Church of England until 1871, 
when the L,ectionary was rearranged, on 
much the same principles as before, but in 
such a manner that the New Testament was 
to be read through twice every year, by the 
Calendar, instead of three times as formerly. 
This Lectionary was to be optional with the 
old one until 1879, and then the old one 
was to be done away with. 

In this country the I,ectionary of the 
" Proposed Book," published in 1786, was 
considerably different from that in the Eng- 
128 



XLbe Stors ot tbe prater $oofc 



lish Book. In 1789 a new table of Lessons 
was adopted for Sundays, and that of the 
" Proposed Book," with some changes, was 
adopted for the Calendar. The lessons 
were shorter than in the English Lection- 
ary, more appropriate chapters were chosen 
for the Sundays, and special second lessons 
w T ere appointed, from the New Testament, 
for Sundays, both for Morning and for 
Evening. 

In the General Convention of 1877 a vote 
was passed permitting the use of the Eng- 
lish Lectionary of 1871, and a table of les- 
sons was adopted for the forty days of Lent. 
But in 1880 new tables were adopted, both 
for Sundays and Holy Days and for the 
General Calendar, the use of which was 
made discretionary; and in 1883, this Lec- 
tionary, with some amendments, was per- 
manently adopted in place of the Lectionary 
of 1789. The three rules in regard to the 
use of the Lectionar}^, which w r ere also 
adopted in this Convention, and to which I 
have referred, are still in force, and are as 
follows: " If in any Church, upon a Sunday 
or Holy Day, both Morning and Evening 
Prayer be not said, the Minister may read 
the Lessons appointed either for Morning 
or for Evening Prayer.' ' — "At Evening 
129 



Prayer on Sunday, the Minister may read 
the Lesson from the Gospels appointed for 
that Day of the Month, in place of the Second 
Lesson for the Sunday. M — "Upon any Day 
for which no Proper Lessons are provided, 
the Lessons appointed in the Calendar for 
any Day in the same week may be read in 
place of the Lessons for the Day." 

So much for the Lectionary. Perhaps I 
have made too long a digression; but in an 
account of the Prayer Book such as I am 
giving, what I have said here in regard to 
the Lectionary needed to be said some- 
where. I will now return to the subject of 
Prayer Book revision. 

The Book of 1789, which had been used 
so long, w T as indeed a good book, and all 
felt that it was; but people had changed in 
a hundred years, and circumstances had 
changed; and there are very few things in 
the world any way, how T ever good, that 
cannot be improved. The agitation in favor 
of revision, which had been going on so 
long, was at length to bear fruit. In the 
General Convention of 1880 — the Conven- 
tion in which it had been voted not to 
amend the "Ratification" of the Prayer 
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XTbe 5tor£ of tbe ©rager $oo?t 

Book, and the one immediately preceding 
that in which the new Lectionary was 
adopted, and the three rules in regard to 
the use of the Lection ary, the rules allow- 
ing a certain amount of discretion in the 
use of the Lessons, which I have just given, 
— a resolution was passed providing for the 
appointment of a joint committee, consist- 
ing of seven bishops, seven presbyters and 
seven laymen, to consider and report to the 
next General Convention, "Whether the 
changed conditions of the national life do 
not demand certain alterations in the Book 
of Common Prayer, in the direction of 
liturgical enrichment and increased flexi- 
bility of use. ' ' 

The mover of the resolution was the 
Rev. Dr. Wm. R. Huntington, of Massa- 
chusetts, now of New York City. The 
resolution was introduced on October 14th, 
the ninth day of the session. It was con- 
sidered and voted upon on the 17th day of 
the session. The majority in favor of it 
was large. Of the Clergy, forty-three dio- 
ceses were represented. Thirty-three voted 
for the resolution; nine voted against it; 
one was divided. Of the Laity, thirty-five 
dioceses were represented. Twenty voted 
in favor of it; eleven voted against it; four 
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Cbe American ©ra^er asooft 



were divided. On the next day the House 
of Bishops concurred in the resolution. 

The following were appointed on the 
Joint Committee: Bishop Williams of Con- 
necticut, Bishop L,ay of Easton, Bishop 
Stevens of Pennsylvania, Bishop Coxe of 
Western New York, Bishop Young of 
Florida, Bishop Doane of Albany, and 
Bishop Huntington of Central New York; 
the Rev. Dr. Wm. R. Huntington, the Rev. 
Dr. E. A. Dairy mple, the Rev. Dr. D. R. 
Goodwin, the Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, the 
Rev. Dr. Edwin Harwood, the Rev. Dr. 
Joseph F. Garrison, the Rev. Dr. Francis 
Harison; and Messrs. Hamilton Fish, 
Henry Coppee, Hugh W. Sheffey, E. T. 
Wilder, John W. Andrews, James M. 
Smith, and Hill Burgwin. 

The Committee organized by the choice 
of Bishop Williams as Chairman, and the 
Rev. Dr. Wm. R. Huntington as Secretary. 
Early in 1881 the work of review was dis- 
tributed among three sub-committees, and 
the following resolutions were adopted by 
the Joint Committee: 

(a) "Resolved, That this Committee asserts, at 
the outset, its conviction that no alteration should 
be made touching either statements or standards 
of doctrine in the Book of Common Prayer." 
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(b) "Resolved, That this Committee, in all its 
suggestions and acts, be guided by those principles 
of liturgical construction and ritual use which 
have guided the compilation and amendments of 
the Book of Common Prayer, and have made it 
what it is." 

A majority of this Joint Committee had 
not been in favor of revision when ap- 
pointed; but they all signed the Report 
which was presented to the Convention of 
1883, with the statement, however, that 
none of the members of the Committee 
were bound, unreservedly, to the support 
cf every addition or change proposed. 

The Committee presented thirty-three res- 
olutions, embodying one hundred and 
ninety-six additions or changes; and there 
was annexed to the Report a sample Prayer 
Book, showing how the Prayer Book would 
appear if all these changes proposed w 7 ere 
approved and finally adopted. This book 
was called " The Book Annexed.' 9 

In accordance with the Constitution of 
the Church, the changes proposed in this 
Convention and approved by it were then 
made known to the dioceses, and came up 
to be " finally agreed to, or ratified,' ' in the 
next Convention. A few more than half of 
the changes approved in 1883, were adopted 
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in 1886. In 1886 the Joint Committee of 
twenty-one was reorganized, and was re- 
duced to fifteen. The Rev. Dr. Huntington, 
the original mover of the Resolution, the 
Secretary of the Committee, and the great 
champion of revision, refused to be a mem- 
ber of the reorganized Committee. 

Other changes, eighteen in number, w r ere 
proposed and approved in 1886, all of which 
were ratified in 1889; in which latter Con- 
vention, also, fifty-two other changes were 
proposed and approved. 

But the work of revision had already 
lasted longer than had been anticipated, 
and all were getting tired of it. Many 
complaints w r ere made, especially by the 
laity, that it w r as difficult to tell what was 
proper in ritual and what was not proper, 
and that it w T as difficult for any one not 
familiar with the Prayer Book to follow the 
minister intelligently. These complaints 
were not entirely justified; and, still, the 
w T hole Church had come to the conclusion 
that the Revision of the Prayer Book must 
end with the next Convention. Accord- 
ingly, a Committee w r as appointed in the 
Convention of 1889, to prepare, and present 
to the Convention of 1892, a new edition of 
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the " Standard Book of Common Prayer." 
This Committee consisted of Bishop Doane 
of Albany, Bishop Perry of Iowa, Bishop 
Potter of New York; the Rev. Dr. Wm. R. 
Huntington, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hart, the 
Rev. Dr. J. S. Kedney; and Messrs. J. Pier- 
pont Morgan, Joseph Packard, Jr., and 
Samuel Eliot. It was the duty of this 
Committee to embody in the Book such 
alterations and additions as had been 
already approved of and w T ere presented for 
ratification by the Convention, together 
with such verbal changes as might be 
necessary to insure grammatical correct- 
ness, — and to secure accuracy and taste in 
printing. Of the fifty-two changes pro- 
posed and approved in 1889, forty-three w 7 ere 
adopted or ratified in 1892. 

With this General Convention of 1892 
and the subsequent publication of the 
Standard Revised Book, the work which 
had been going on for twelve years w T as 
brought to a close. It differed from other 
revisions in the fact that it occupied so 
much time, that so much care and labor 
had been bestowed upon it by so many, 
and that during its progress it was sub- 
jected to such severe criticism at every 

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step, and that it was secured in spite of 
continued and persistent opposition from 
conservatives. 

The excellence of the results obtained, 
however, were doubtless due, on the whole, 
quite as much to the Conservatives as to 
any other school of thought in the Church. 
Criticism had generally been judicious and 
reasonable. The whole work had been con- 
ducted in a conservative and Catholic spirit; 
and, while during the progress of the work 
there had been sharp differences of opinion, 
there was general agreement at the end. 

Great credit for the completed work is 
due to the Church at large, to the various 
members of the General Convention while 
the work was in progress, and in particular 
to the members of the various Committees 
which had the work especially in charge. 
The individuals whose work and advice 
were particularly helpful, were, perhaps, 
Bishop Williams, Bishop Doane, Bishop 
Perry; the Rev. Morgan Dix, D. D., the 
Rev. Samuel Hart, D. D., who is the pres- 
ent Custodian of the Standard Book of 
Common Prayer, and, above all, the orig- 
inal mover of the Resolution for Revision, 
the Rev. Wm. Reed Huntington, D. D., 
who continued to the end to be most zealous 
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and active in the work, and to whose litur- 
gical knowledge and taste, to whose readi- 
ness and ability in debate, and to whose 
Catholic and comprehensive liberality of 
mind and heart, the Church will be greatly 
indebted as long as the American Prayer 
Book of 1892 shall be used. 

The Book itself, as it is to-day, is of 
course not perfect; but it is certainly the 
result of a very successful attempt towards 
a perfection which must be always un- 
attainable. 

In regard to the whole number of changes 
of every kind which were made, it is not 
easy to give them correctly, except by men- 
tioning each one in particular, which is not 
desirable in a work of this kind. But even 
if they were all given in particular, the 
number of them might still be in dispute. 
As they appear in the records of the Gen- 
eral Convention, as reported to the Clergy 
by the Secretary of the House of Deputies, 
the Rev. Charles ly. Hutchins, D. D., they 
number altogether one hundred and sixty- 
three; but a critic carefully comparing the 
revised Book with its predecessor, might 
consider them to be somewhat more numer- 

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ous, from the fact that a change as voted by 
the Convention often implied and required 
more than one change in the Book itself. 

But while the changes are so many in 
number, they are of such a character that, 
to the casual critic, they appear to be much 
fewer than they are; and if a few printed 
slips of corrections are pasted into the old 
books, one at all familiar with the services 
finds little difficulty in using them along 
with the new books; and many have been 
disposed to say, ' 1 Since the changes made 
have been so few and so really trifling, 
what was the need of such a labor in revis- 
ing, and of keeping the Church in such 
uncertainty so long ? ' ' 

But, in spite of this criticism, the changes 
and additions made were very important, 
and were well worth all the labor and the 
trouble. I will briefly call attention to the 
principal ones. Any person interested, 
however, will find it very much to his ad- 
vantage to compare the two editions for 
himself. 

In the introductory portion , under the title, 
"Concerning the Service of the Church/' 
it is stated that the "Order for Morning 
Prayer, the Litany, and the Order for the 
138 



ftbe 5tor£ of tbc prater ;83ook 

Administration of the Holy Communion, are 
distinct services, and may be used either 
separately or together, Provided, that no one 
of these services be habitually disused ; M 
that the Litany may be used in the evening 
as well as in the morning ; that i ' On any 
day when Morning and Evening Prayer 
shall have been said or are to be said in 
church, the minister may, at any other ser- 
vice for which no form is provided, use such 
devotions as he shall at his discretion select 
from " the Prayer Book, subject to the direc- 
tion of the Bishop ; and that, for special occa- 
sions for which no service has been provided, 
any Bishop may set forth, for his own dio- 
cese, such forms 4 'as he shall think fit." 
These regulations were almost exactly the 
same as the Declaration issued by the House 
of Bishops in 1856, except as regarded the 
Lessons, — and these had already been pro- 
vided for in 1883, when the new Lectionary 
was adopted. 

The Selections of Psalms in the old Prayer 
Book were all omitted, and, in the Order 
how the Psalter is appointed to be read, the 
number of Selections in the Table of Proper 
Psalms on certain days was increased from 
six to sixteen ; and also a table of twenty 
Selections of Psalms was given, any one of 
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Zbc Bmerican ©eager $ooft 

which might be used in place of the regular 
allotment of Psalms in the Psalter for the 
daily service. In the Psalter, the numbers 
of the Psalms were to be printed in common 
numerals, instead of Roman ones ; and the 
verses of Psalm 119 were to be numbered 
continuously ; and in the allotment of 
Psalms for the 29th day, also, the one 
w T hich had been the last in the number for 
Morning Prayer was to be placed among 
those for Evening Prayer. 

The following paragraph in regard to 
Hymns and Anthems was inserted in the 
introductory matter, just before the Tables 
of Lessons of Holy Scripture : 1 ' Hymns set 
forth and allowed by the authority of this 
Church, and Anthems in the w r ords of the 
Holy Scripture or of the Book of Common 
Prayer, may be sung before and after any 
Office in this Book, and also before and after 
sermons.' 1 This paragraph, however, did 
not provide for the introduction of any new 
custom, but was merely the acknowledg- 
ment of an old one. 

New Tables for finding the Dominical or 
Sunday Letter, Easter Day, etc., w r ere also 
substituted for the old ones. 

In the Order for Morning and for Evening 
Prayer, quite a number of new Introductory 
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Sentences of Holy Scripture were inserted, 
many of them being marked as appropriate 
for certain Holy Days. 

The rubrics in regard to the Glorias were 
changed, and the " Gloria in Excelsis " was 
omitted from the Order for Morning Prayer 
and was inserted in the Order for Evening 
Prayer, in a similar position. 

The positions of the chants after the Sec- 
ond Wesson in Morning Prayer were inter- 
changed, the Benedictus being placed before 
the Jubilate. The whole of the Benedictus 
was printed, with a provision that the latter 
portion of it might be omitted except on 
Sundays in Advent. In Evening Prayer 
the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were 
restored, to be used after the First and 
Second Lessons respectively, and each was 
to be printed before the other chants which 
might be so used, these latter remaining as 
they were. 

In the Apostles' Creed the word " again M 
was inserted, or restored, in the clause, 
" He rose again from the dead." 

For Evening Prayer, also, new versicles 
were inserted immediately before the pray- 
ers, and a change was made in the Collect 
for Aid against Perils, and also in the Prayer 
for those in Authority. 

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Zbc Bmerfcan iprager SSoofc 



In both Morning and Evening Prayer a 
bracketed clause was introduced into the 
Prayer for All Conditions of Men, and a 
marginal note was added as to its use ; and a 
similar clause was also inserted in the 
General Thanksgiving, with a similar mar- 
ginal note. 

All the rubrics which allow omissions 
in Morning and Evening Prayer were intro- 
duced at this time, except the one in Morn- 
ing Prayer which provides for the case when 
the Litany is read, which had at the first 
been adopted from the English Prayer Book, 
and except those also which allow the omis- 
sion of the Collect for the Day. The omis- 
sions may be quite numerous. 

In Evening Prayer, on any day, permis- 
sion was given to omit the General Exhor- 
tation, the minister saying, instead thereof, 
"Let us humbly confess our sins unto 
Almighty God," and "on days other than 
the Lord's Day, he may, at his discretion, 
pass at once from the Sentences to the Lord's 
Prayer. ' ' And after the Third Collect there 
is the rubric, ( ' The Minister may here end 
the Evening Prayer with such Prayer or 
Prayers, taken out of this Book, as he shall 
think fit." 

In Morning Prayer, on any day not a 
142 



Sunday, the minister may omit the Exhorta- 
tion, saying instead thereof, u Let us hum- 
bly confess our sins unto Almighty God," 
and he may end the Morning Prayer with 
the Collect for Grace, and 2 Corinthians 13, 
14 ; and on any day when the Holy Com- 
munion is immediately to follow, he may 
pass at once from the Sentences to the 
Lord's Prayer, and may end the Morning 
Prayer with the Prayer for the President of 
the United States and All in Civil Authority. 

Many of these omissions were in the line 
of return to the custom of the days of Ed- 
ward and of Elizabeth. A return to the 
present custom of the English Prayer Book 
was the rubric in the Order for Evening 
Prayer, allowing the use of an anthem im- 
mediately after the Third Collect. 

In the Litany a new petition was intro- 
duced, "That it may please thee to send 
forth laborers into thy harvest." The per- 
mission to use the Litany at Evening Prayer, 
introducing it after the Third Collect, and 
also to use it as a distinct service by itself, 
has already been spoken of. 

Several new Prayers and Thanksgivings 
upon Several Occasions were adopted, — 
Prayers " For the Unity of God's People," 
"For Missions," and two "For Fruitful 

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Seasons, ' ' the latter 1 1 To be used on Roga- 
tion-Sunday and the Rogation-days 1 ■ ; and 
a Thanksgiving "For a Child's Recovery 
from Sickness. 1 1 The rubric provided that 
the Thanksgivings should be used after the 
General Thanksgiving, instead of before it, 
as formerly. 

A Penitential Office for Ash Wednesday 
was also adopted, which is essentially the 
same as the last part of the Commination 
Office of the English Prayer Book, that ser- 
vice with the Commination part, or threaten- 
ing part, omitted ; and a rubric was inserted 
permitting its use at other times at the dis- 
cretion of the minister, as is the case with 
the Commination Office. 

As to the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, 
some changes were made in the arra?7ge- 
ment of some of those for Holy Days, and 
in the rubrics for their use. 

The title of the Collect, Epistle, and Gos- 
pel, for 4 1 The Twenty-fifth Sunday after 
Trinity," was changed to 1 'The Sunday 
next before Advent," and a rubrical change 
was made to correspond with this new title. 
A Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, were provided 
for the Feast of the Transfiguration, which 
was appointed to be celebrated on the Sixth 
of August; and new additional Collects, 
144 



Epistles, and Gospels, were provided for use 
at Early Celebrations on Christmas Day and 
on Easter Sunday. 

Some changes were made in the Com- 
munion Office. The Doxology was omitted 
from the Lord's Supper at the beginning of 
the service. Immediately before the Deca- 
logue the following rubric was inserted : 
M The Decalogue may be omitted, provided 
that it be said once on each Sunday. But 
Note, that whenever it is omitted, the min- 
ister shall say the Summary of the Law, 
beginning, Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ 
saith. M And after the Summary of the Law 
there is the following : " Here, if the Deca- 
logue hath been omitted, shall be said, 

Lord, have mercy upon us; 

Christ, have mercy upon us ; 

Lord, have mercy upon us. M 

The Nicene Creed was printed where it 
would properly come in the service, pre- 
ceded by a rubric directing that it shall be 
said on five Feast Days in the year, " Christ- 
mas-day, Easter-day, Ascension-day, Whit- 
sunday and Trinity-Sunday/ ' 

Before the Offertory Sentences a rubric 
was placed to the effect ' ' that these sen- 
tences may be used on any other occasion 
of Public Worship when the alms of the 

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People are to be received, ' ' — and several new 
Offertory Sentences were introduced. There 
is a rubric also allowing the singing of a 
" Hymn, or of an Offertory Anthem in the 
words of Holy Scripture or of the Book of 
Common Prayer/ 1 while the offerings are 
being presented. 

The two " Warnings " for the Holy Com- 
munion were removed from their former 
place, immediately after the Prayer for 
Christ's Church militant, to a place at the 
end of the service ; and it was provided that 
the Exhortation to the Holy Communion 
"may be omitted, if it hath been already 
said on one Lord's Day in that same month." 

The first of the rubrics before the receiv- 
ing of the Holy Communion, was changed 
so as to provide, not that a Hymn shall be 
sung at that point in the service, but that 
one may be sung. And in the rubric follow- 
ing that one, the clause was inserted, " And 
sufficient opportunity shall be given to 
those present to communicate." 

In the various Special Offices quite a num- 
ber of changes were made, the most of which 
were of no very great importance, but all of 
which, possibly, would be considered as 
slight improvements by almost any one 
who would take the trouble to compare the 
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two books. In the Order of Confirmation a 
short Lesson was introduced (Acts 8: 14- 
17). In the Order for the Burial of the 
Dead, besides several comparatively unim- 
portant changes, an improvement was made 
by the provision of Additional Prayers. 

As to the Articles of Religion, also, it was 
provided that they should be printed by 
themselves, at the end of the Book, with a 
distinct title-page. 

During the progress of revision, and be- 
fore it was completed, the various changes 
made were at once brought into use by the 
clergy as soon as they had been finally 
adopted. The old Pra}^er Books, however, 
were still used. As I have said, the changes 
were not of such a character as to make 
this difficult for the congregations, and the 
clergy found it easy to keep the books which 
they themselves used revised to date by the 
use of printed slips as stickers. The edi- 
tions of the Prayer Book published at the 
time were usually provided with an appen- 
dix which set forth the changes which had 
been already made, and many of them also 
had the full revised Order for Evening 
Prayer, the Service in which the greatest 
changes occurred, bound up with them. 

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Pamphlets were also issued, principally for 
the convenience of the clergy, which con- 
tained the revised forms of the offices most 
commonly used. 

But as soon as the revision was finally 
completed such devices were very soon dis- 
carded. I^arge editions of the revised Book 
were published, and before many months 
had passed these took the place of the old 
Books almost everywhere. 

There was general satisfaction with the 
result which had been achieved. The new 
Prayer Book was looked upon by all Church- 
men, of every school, as the ideal of what 
an American Prayer Book should be. 

One important result of revision had not 
been contemplated at first, except by the 
far-seeing few. It arose from the attention 
which had come to be bestowed upon the 
Prayer Book by members of other bodies cf 
Christians. The work of revision, extend- 
ing over so many years, had caused a gen- 
eral interest in the Book. Those who had 
known very little about it before came to 
know more about it, — very largely, at first, 
because of curiosity; — and the more they 
came to know about it, the better they came 
to like it. Churchmen themselves, also, 
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did more than they had done before towards 
having it distributed as widely as possible. 
And increased knowledge of the Prayer 
Book caused the Church that used it to be 
better known, better understood, and more 
widely and more highly appreciated. 
149 



CONCLUSION. 



The Advantages of a Liturgy} 

And now, before concluding this brief 
Story of the Prayer Book, I wish to say a 
few words in regard to the advantages of a 
Liturgical form of worship. So much has 
been said in this land and in this language 
against * 1 stinted Prayers, ' ' and against what 
has been called " the slavery of formalism/ ' 
that what little I shall say in defence of the 
use of a Liturgy in religious worship, will 
certainly not be deemed out of place. 

I will begin by saying that I would not 
for a moment be understood as implying 
that one ought never to pray to God except 
when he uses a prepared formula. Far 
from it. Any Christian should often pray 
for what he feels at the moment that he 
needs, and he cannot stop to ransack his 
memory for a particular form to fit the occa- 
sion and the need. And so of nearly all 
our personal prayers to God — when we pray 
by ourselves. We wish for specific things, 
and God wishes us to ask for them in a 
definite way, however awkward and un- 

1 Of course it will be seen that no attempt is made 
at a complete discussion of this subject. 

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XEbe 5tot£ of tbc ipra^er JSooft 

couth our words may be. The lisping of a 
child, the cry of agony, the unuttered yearn- 
ing, — he hears them all, and understands 
them. They are unspeakably pleasing to 
him, and he answers them with an infinite 
wisdom and tenderness. All that is granted, 
and always has been granted by almost 
everybody. It would not be worth while 
to speak of it if it were not true that the 
views of the advocates of Liturgical worship 
are often so woefully misunderstood. And 
I would not say, either, that one should 
never, even in public, pray with words of his 
own which come to him at the moment. 
Common sense and good taste, and a proper 
regard for the necessities of the occasion 
and for the fitness of things, may be safely 
trusted to lead one in all matters of that 
kind. Liturgies were never made to keep 
people from really praying, as would be the 
case if one were never to pray except with 
a Liturgy ; but they were made and in- 
tended to help men to pray and to worship 
together. A Liturgy, indeed, may often be 
helpful in private worship and prayer, es- 
pecially in the private worship and prayer 
which ought to take place at stated times ; 
but it is public worship for which Liturgies 
were at first devised, and for which they 
have been used. 

151 



Conclusion 



The great designs of Public Worship are 
to honor God, and to develop the souls of 
the worshipers by spiritual food, spiritual 
exercise, and spiritual instruction ; and, in 
all this, while the worshipers are thus 
brought nearer to God, to have it come 
about that the}' are also brought nearer to 
each other. These great ends are attained 
b}- a Liturgical worship much more readily 
and naturally than in an}' other way. A 
good Liturgy contains many of the loftiest 
thoughts of many of the best and most de- 
vout through all the ages, — together with 
Holy Scripture and pure Christian teach- 
ing, w T ell calculated to instruct and elevate 
the soul. And such a Liturgy is so com- 
prehensive in its character, that every desire 
and hope and aspiration common to all men, 
everything which the individual can possi- 
bly desire, or hope for, or yearn for, is 
comprehended and enfolded in its prayers 
and praises. It is not that the Minister is 
worshiping in public, so that the people 
may hear him, as is so often the case in so- 
called extemporaneous w r orship, but that 
the Minister is leading the people in Com- 
mon Worship, while his individual thoughts 
and feelings are sunk and buried among the 
thoughts and feelings which are common 
to all. 

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Gbe Ston? ot tbe prater J6ooft 

Of course, the one thing most needed, as 
in all divine worship, is sincerity, sincerity 
as well as humility and reverence, for they 
that worship God should worship him il in 
spirit and in truth;" and there is nothing 
in our noble Liturgy to prevent that, while 
there is everything to foster and develop it. 

Our Liturgy is indeed all that can be de- 
sired, from a literary and from an artistic 
point of view, and it is not the worse for 
such excellencies ; but its great glory is that 
it is helpful to the soul. It tends to develop 
humility, reverence, and every Christian 
grace. It tends to give nourishment to the 
soul, and to increase its strength and spirit- 
ual growth. It tends to bring those who 
use it into communion w T ith each other, and 
into communion with the God they worship. 
And when it is used with sincerity, with 
reverence, and with humility, — and with 
faith and hope and love, — it cannot fail to 
be pleasing to the One who has the most 
complete and the most accurate knowledge 
of all the secrets of the human heart, and 
who is always pleased by the sincere and 
devout worship of his earthly children. 

Let us be thankful, then, that we have 
such a Liturgy, and let us use it devoutly 
and earnestly as a gift from the Author of 

153 



Conclusion 

all good. And while we thus use it, not 
indeed as slaves, but as freemen, we shall 
honor God, we shall benefit ourselves, we 
shall help the world. 

154 



JUL 7 189S 



